The Javanese Teacher Community and Their Coping Strategies

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter discusses teacher community at a Javanese junior high school and how their professional responsibilities are structured in relation to institutional setting. The analysis is based on the premise that professional responsibilities of teachers differ across contextual settings. In daily school activities, teachers were accountable for various responsibilities. At SMP Sari, the teacher community was referred to as “family” and professional accountabilities were embedded as family responsibilities. Family signified not only interdependent relationship among teachers but it obligated teachers to prioritize collective interests of community members. This familism system facilitated teachers to carry out school programs, and at the same time, stretched the bureaucratic regulation to enjoy a relaxing and harmonious working environment. However, teaching responsibility was not structured as the school program or collective responsibility. In fact, the collectivistic and hierarchical organizational setting worked negatively toward teachers to pursue their professional interest. Using the sociological concept of “Coping Strategies” (Hargreaves, 2010), I discuss how teachers negotiated various professional responsibilities within the familism system of SMP Sari.