The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2050-7003.htm

Professionalism and Early-stage

teachers in
professionalization of early stage higher
education
teachers in higher education
Cipto Wardoyo and Aulia Herdiani 1175
Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia
Received 30 April 2019
Nurdian Susilowati Revised 30 December 2019
Faculty of Economics, Universities Negeri Semarang, Accepted 31 December 2019

Semarang, Indonesia, and

Muhammad Syahril Harahap
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Education,
Institut Pendidikan Tapanuli Selatan, Padangsidimpuan, Indonesia

Abstract
Purpose – The aim of the study is to test whether an increase in professionalism has a reciprocal relationship
with the professionalization of early-stage lecturers.
Design/methodology/approach – Research with the topic of professionalism and professionalization of
educators does not consider the reciprocal relationship. Most research only test the one-way relationship
between professionalism and professionalization as the consequence of the application of government policies
on colleges. Analysis in this research was carried out on the perspectives of early-stage lecturers on
professionalism and professionalization, each conducted reciprocally for period tn from tn
1.
Findings – In the initial period of the profession, lecturers will tend to work hard to increase the competence and
income they possess. The achieved increase in competence is based on the demand to develop professionalism, while
the increase in income is based more on the demands of individual needs. In general, an increase in the professionalism
of lecturers will be followed by an increase in income (professionalization). However, at some point, this increase in
professionalism will experience stagnation, although the professionalization they possess continues to increase.
Research limitations/implications – The data of material used in this research only consist of estimated
figures from each respondent, while the components of appreciation for lecturers may vary depending on their
respective institutions.
Originality/value – Previous studies have extensively observed the determinants of teachers’ professionalism
and professionalization; however, how professionalism and professionalization reciprocally influence each other
in terms of career periods has not been taken into account.
Keywords Professionalism, Professionalization, Reciprocity relationship, Early stage teacher, Profession in
higher education, Professional cycle
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Development of education is always demanded to keep up with and even exceed the
development of technology and information. Education must be able to prepare a generation that
is able to respond to every margin of development in technology and information according to
the fields of each person. In this regard, the role of scholars and practitioners in studying and
implementing development becomes an important key. As such, the professionalism of
educators continues to be discussed, even now (Sachs, 2016; De Boer et al., 2018).
The development of professionalism of educators in Indonesia is fundamentally triggered
by government policies on the development of the curriculum in response to global challenges,
Journal of Applied Research in
Higher Education
Vol. 12 No. 5, 2020
The authors would like to thank Faculty of Economics Universitas Negeri Malang for the support and pp. 1175-1187
funding. The authors feel grateful to Dr. Patrick Blessinger (the editor) and two anonymous referees for © Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-7003
the insightful reviews. All errors are the responsibility of the authors. DOI 10.1108/JARHE-04-2019-0100
JARHE which systematically also demands the development of the curriculum attributes. When the
12,5 curriculum changes (develops), the change must be comprehensive across all dimensions
(UNESCO, 2013). This comprehensiveness applies to both the written curriculum and the
“implied” curriculum. The written curriculum covers documents related to the curriculum
framework, course syllabuses, learning materials, teaching guidelines, and evaluation
guidelines, which reflect the things that learners may learn and acquire. On the other hand,
the “implied” curriculum reflects things that may not be delineated or formulated in curriculum
1176 documents, which include the personal development of the learner, educator, and other
communities not present in the formulation of learning objectives, as well as unexpected effects
from the application of the curriculum and unseen aspects in the learning process.
Higher education tends to possess a greater authority in more deeply managing the
curriculum structure and other things that are relevant to their development, and, as such, the
management of higher education is often debated over the course of time (Wilkesmann and
Schmid, 2012; Macheridis and Paulsson, 2017). What is emphasized is how the government
establishes policies and regulates matters that are relevant to higher education. In this research,
these policies relate to the demand for the development of lecturer professionalism, as well as
how they respond to that demand with consideration of their own personal interests.
It has been previously addressed that to increase, or as a consequence of increasing, the
professionalism of educators (lecturers), there needs to be equivalent motivation or
compensation (Ingersoll et al., 1997; Wardoyo et al., 2017). Further, Wardoyo et al. (2017)
also explain that in contrast to the professionalism of educators in times when educators only
focused on how to transfer information, in recent times, educators are focused not only on
how to provide a learning experience to learners, but also on how to improve their
professionalism based on applicable government policies, with salary increases and benefits
as compensation (professionalization).
In many countries (Wilkesmann and Schmid, 2012; Gupta, 2017), and even in Indonesia,
government policies have “economized” higher education. This is proven by policies of
remuneration or performance-based appreciation, educator appreciation, promotion with
adjustment of incentives, and so on. Further, Mahmud et al. (2019) explain that satisfaction
with remuneration and work motivation could directly influence organizational commitment
and professionalism of lecturer. In other words, educators possess the motivation to improve
their professionalism in response to the demands of government policies for their profession,
which is then followed by an increase in their professionalization and is expected to increase
the standards of living as well.
With the increase in the standards of living of educators, it is expected that they would maintain
and further develop their professionalism. However, from a different case, Torres and Weiner
(2018) explained that due to government policies on higher education, the professionalism of
educators has become more strongly competitive compared to the collegial era (Wardoyo et al.,
2017; Hargreaves, 2000), while appreciation has not been equivalent. From this explanation, the
interpretation is that there is a reciprocal relationship between the professionalism and
professionalization of an educator, but the increase in professionalism and/or professionalization
may not be what is expected. Accordingly, this research is aimed to analyze the reciprocal
relationship between the professionalism and professionalization of educators in higher education.
From the results of this research, it is known that the professionalism of lecturers early in their
careers is not directly related to the material appreciation that they obtain. Lecturers at the early
stages of their careers tend to be motivated to increase performance by the motivation of
increasing trust through intensity of assignment from their superiors. The achieved results are
more consistent with lecturers or educators who are in their in-service period or who work based
on a working contract. Even so, data of material appreciation used in this research only consist of
estimated figures based on each respondent, while the components of appreciation for lecturers
may be different, depending on the particular institution.
2. Literature review Early-stage
2.1 Development of professionalism of early-stage lecturers teachers in
Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) is a relatively new theory that is aimed at explaining
three interrelated aspects of career development: (1) how basic academic and career interests
higher
develop, (2) how educational and career choices are made, and (3) how academic and career education
successes are obtained. The theory incorporates a variety of concepts (e.g., interests, abilities,
values, environmental factors) that appear in earlier career theories and have been found to
affect career development. Developed by Lent et al. (1994), based on Albert Bandura’s general 1177
social cognitive theory, an influential theory of cognitive and motivational processes has been
extended to the study of many areas of psychosocial functioning, such as academic
performance in higher education.
Increased training and licensing are very important for improving the professionalism of
early-stage lecturers in higher education (Darling-Hammond, 1984, 1994). Almost all parties
possess the same perception that a person who is a lecturer should have high professionalism
and should not be an amateur without talent, because lecturers in higher education are
expected to create a generation of people that possess capabilities of high skills to respond to
the challenges of the working world. The standard of quality applied for the quality of
lecturers very much determines the increase in professionalism and individual commitment
toward the institution.
Fundamentally, early formal training for early-stage lecturers is needed to prepare them
before they conduct their professional duties. In addition, continuous training and
development of professionalism of early-stage lecturers is also very important to produce
lecturers with more comprehensive knowledge and skills, particularly with ever-increasing
needs of education and technology. The consequence is that the promotion and mobility of
lecturer authority toward their profession must also be adapted (Wallace, 1995; Hodson and
Sullivan, 1995; Ingersoll et al., 1997) .
As with other professions, lecturers must be able to adapt to updated information and
development of needs. This demand has encouraged educational institutions to obligate
their educators to develop knowledge and competence as part of their professionalism
through participation in professional development training. Efforts to improve the
professionalism of lecturers are in general conducted by providing relevant training
(Wardoyo et al., 2017), followed by the awarding of licenses; many developed countries such
as Australia, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Japan, and Slovenia (OECD,
2018) have conceived and applied these efforts several decades ago, and even obligated
participation in professional development training as a requirement for career development.
However, license exams have been judged to be lacking in contributing to the improvement
of lecturer professionalism (Goldhaber and Brewer, 2000; Darling-Hammond et al., 2001;
Walsh, 2001; Kane et al., 2008), but more professionalism affects the fulfillment of legal
requirements as an educator (Hutt et al., 2018). In the end, efforts to improve lecturer
professionalism (by providing licenses) will directly affect the increase of professionalization
with consideration of the legality aspect.

2.2 Linearity of professionalization

Social exchange theory explains that when employees are comfortable with rewards offered
by organizations, they will respond favorably by showing a positive attitude toward the
organization. This theory is supported by Linz and Semykina (2012) who found that expected
rewards or compensation has a positive effect on employee job satisfaction. Bartol and Locke
(2000) explain that organizational rewards are very useful for encouraging employees to
behave well. Organizational rewards can include monetary incentives in the form of increased
salaries and bonuses, while non-monetary incentives can be a promotion and job comfort
(Davenport and Prusak, 1998). Some organizations reward the experience of each employee in
JARHE the organization. For instance, Lotus Development, IBM’s division, provides 25 percent
12,5 rewards to every employee performing well in serving customers (Bartol and Srivastava,
2002). In this study, rewards are the expectations of employees that they will get in
accordance with their performance.
Professionalism will fundamentally be followed by compensation that is appropriate to its
level and tends to result in ever-greater material gains and other advantages through the
procedure of promotion (Hodson and Sullivan, 1995). This assumption indicates that a high
1178 amount of compensation needs to be given to the people who possess great knowledge and
skills, and who possess the capability and motivation to continue to work. At a certain level,
compensation in the form of promotion is the most appropriate form of compensation to be
given to the people who have achieved a certain level in their careers (Chambers and Bobbitt,
1996; Ingersoll et al., 1997).
Increased compensation and promotion are characteristics that differentiate professional
and non-professional workers. Most people are attracted to certain professions because of the
consideration of a combination of factors including professional dignity, work environment,
self-actualization, and relevant financial rewards to the profession (OECD, 2018). However,
this is not the only criteria; work ethics to the institution and the conventional social status
increase are also determinants. The objective of this research is to test whether the
professionalization of an educator increases because of an increase in the quality of
professionalism, which, in turn, also increases professionalism.

3. Methods
This research is a quantitative research to test whether there is a reciprocal relationship
between professionalism and professionalization of early-stage lecturers in the environment
of higher education. At the initial stage, professionalism (t1) as the independent variable is
analyzed to find out its effect on professionalization (t2), and then professionalization (t1) is
used as the independent variable analyzed to find out its effect on professionalism (t2). The
sample used in this research consists of 114 lecturers in Indonesian colleges who were chosen
randomly based on the category of their functional positions as lecturer (orientation phase),
civil servant lecturer, and lecturer staff.
The professionalism of educators is measured based on individual characteristics or
perceptions from each educator compared to what should be done as an educator based on
government regulations (Tichenor and Tichenor, 2005; Evans, 2011; Torres and Weiner,
2018). The perceptions of educators regarding professionalism that are used as references in
this research are 1) characteristics that reflect an educator, 2) the commitment to continuously
change and develop, 3) knowledge of the field, 4) pedagogic knowledge, and 5) commitment as
an educator in the classroom. Next, the professionalization of an educator is also measured
based on how each educator perceives economic-social status as a consequence or a part of
the profession. From these indicators, a questionnaire was made using a five-point Likert
scale, from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”
The data used in this research are described based on the numbers and charts, while data
analysis was carried out using multiple regression analysis. In Model 1, Pfm
(professionalism) at t1 as the independent variable was analyzed to find out its influence
on Pfz (professionalization) at t2, while in Model 2, Pfz (professionalization) at t1 was analyzed
to find out its influence on Pfm (professionalism) at t2. Lecturers’ attributes, tenure, university
status, and support were used as control variables.
pfzt2 ¼ α þ β1 pfmt1 þ β2 Attributes þ β3 Status þ β4 Tenure þ β5 Support þ ε (1)

pfmt2 ¼ α þ β1 pfzt1 þ β2 Attributes þ β3 Status þ β4 Tenure þ β5 Support þ ε (2)

Notes: Early-stage
Pfmt 1: Professionalism at t1 teachers in
higher
Pfmt 2: Professionalism at t2 education
Pfzt 1: Professionalization at t1
Pfzt 2: Professionalization at t2 1179
Attributes
Gender: 1 for male, 0 for female
Age: Lecturers’ age at the observed period
Level: Functional position (lecturer, civil servant lecturer, lecturer staff)
Field: Field of knowledge (1 for applied sciences and 0 for social sciences)
Status: Status of college (state or private)
Tenure: Working period (in years)
Support: Institution support

4. Results and discussion

4.1 Description of research data
Table I presents the data of all variables used in this research. Data were collected using
questionnaires that were spread to state colleges and private colleges in Indonesia. The

Variable Min Mean Max Std Kurtosis Skewness

Pfm1 1 2.3158 5 0.9984
0.1303 0.4680

Pfm2 3 4.6929 5 0.5664 1.9367
1.7006
Pfm3 2 4.1316 5 0.7468 0.1953
0.6085
Pfz1 1 3.0351 5 1.2188
0.8054 0.0215
Pfz2 1 3.0702 5 1.1499
0.6786
0.3524
Pfz3 1 2.3596 5 1.0818
0.2604 0.4766
Gender 0 0.4122 1 0.4944
1.9033 0.3612
Age 24 31.5789 44 3.9396 0.1181 0.7439
Level 1 1.8508 3 0.6814
0.8289 0.1950
Status 0 0.6929 1 0.4633
1.3041
0.8479
Field 0 0.6754 1 0.4703
1.4490
0.7594
THP 1,710,000 5,834,452.08 22,000,000 3,103,833.93 5.8061 1.8982
Tenure 0.3 4.6400 20.0528 4.8829 2.0044 1.8932
Support 1 3.7807 5 1.0623 0.0446
0.7657
Notes: Table I shows the description of data used in this research. There are ten variables identified from the
respondents: Pfm as the perception of respondents on the quality of professionalism that they possess and
differentiated by development over time; Pfz as the perception of respondents on the quality of
professionalization that they possess and differentiated by development over time; level as a dummy
variable for the functional position possessed by a lecturer, with 1 for none, 2 for lecturer staff, and 3 for
lecturer; status as a dummy variable for the status of the college, with 1 for state colleges and 0 for private
colleges; field as a dummy variable for the field of knowledge of the lecturer, with 1 for applied sciences and
0 for social sciences and humanities; and THP as the take-home pay earned by the lecturer each month; the data Table I.
were transformed into interval data using the method of successive interval (MSI) before performing the Description of
analysis research data
JARHE questionnaires that returned numbered to 114. The respondents, who are early-stage
12,5 lecturers, are, on average, in their second stage of professionalism, at which point they have
understood the primary tasks and functions as a lecturer, and understood the need for self-
development as the consequence of the lecturer profession (average Pfm1 is 4.6929) with a
service length of at least four years. However, the level of professionalization achieved by the
early-stage lecturers tended to be smaller at Pfm3, with the highest average of
professionalization at Pfz2 being 3.0548.
1180 Most of the respondents were lecturers without a functional position or with the functional
position of lecturer staff (average level being 1.8508), evenly affiliated from state colleges and
private colleges (average status being 0.6929), and dominantly from applied sciences
program than social sciences/humanities program (average field being 0.6754). On average,
the early-stage lecturer who became a respondent has a take-home pay of Rp 5,835,452.08.
From Table II, it can be seen that early-stage lecturers from private colleges tend to have a
functional position sooner than those from state colleges (r 5
0.1463), where most of the
lecturers are skilled in applied sciences; respondents in this research come from state colleges
(r 5 0.2291), with a low or even no functional position (r 5
0.0695). Early-stage lecturers
from state colleges tend to receive higher appreciation compared to lecturers from private
colleges, but lecturers with a high functional position do not necessarily receive higher
amounts of appreciation compared to lecturers with a low functional position or those
without a functional position. However, based on the results of analysis in Table II,
professionalization tends to increase from time to time (r 5 0.4499).
Next, early-stage lecturers from private colleges or those with a low functional position or
without a functional position tend to be more active in increasing the quality of their
professionalism. This is proven by the correlation coefficient of professionalism of early-
stage lecturers toward college status and consecutive functional positions having a negative
value. What is certainly indicated in Table II is that at the early stage of the lecturer
profession, the increase in professionalism is not in line with increased appreciation, which is
proven by the correlation coefficient having a negative value for the three levels of
professionalism and professionalization. However, the take-home pay earned by early-stage
lecturers is higher in state colleges, with a higher functional position, and with skills in
applied sciences.

4.2 Determination of professionalism and professionalization

Based on Table III, there were five tests conducted in this research. This research conducted
hypothesis testing by examining the effect of the professionalism level of early-stage
lecturers on the level of their professionalization, for which this test was conducted
reciprocally. In the first model, determination testing was conducted on Pfm2 as the
perception of early-stage lecturers on the professionalism they possess, wherein early-stage
lecturers have gained the awareness to develop their knowledge and skills. Pfz1 was the
independent variable for the first model, as the initial appreciation obtained by the early-stage
lecturers. The second test was conducted toward Pfm3, as the perception of professionalism
gained to work independently.
Pfz2 as the perception of early-stage lecturers on the appreciation that they receive in the
second phase in the third model, when they begin to expect appreciation appropriate to their
performance, with the primary factor Pfm1 as the perception of early-stage lecturers on the
early level of professionalism, when an individual has only started the lecturer profession and
realizes that there is a lack of knowledge and skill compared to peers.
The fourth model used Pfz3 for the dependent variable as the perception of early-stage
lecturers on professionalization, where the earned appreciation exceeds the accomplished
performance. In the second model, the utilized factor was Pfm2 as the perception of early-
 Pfm1 Pfm2 Pfm3 Pfz1 Pfz2 Pfz3 THP Gender Age Status Level Tenure Field Support

Pfm1 1 – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Pfm2 0.0379 1 – – – – – – – – – – – –
Pfm3
0.0967 0.1460 1 – – – – – – – – – – –
Pfz1 0.1201 0.1200
0.1687 1 – – – – – – – – – –
Pfz2
0.1881
0.0438
0.1482
0.1289 1 – – – – – – – – –
Pfz3
0.0843
0.1419
0.1078
0.0133 0.4499 1 – – – – – – – –
THP
0.1603
0.1087
0.1505
0.0839 0.8533 0.8496 1 – – – – – – –
Gender 0.0612
0.0073
0.0044 0.1977
0.0624 0.2023 0.0813 1 – – – – – –
Age
0.1368
0.1446
0.0592 0.0308 0.0433
0.0227 0.0123 0.0717 1 – – – – –
Status
0.0645
0.0424 0.0666
0.2280
0.1821
0.0311
0.1257
0.0993
0.0133 1 – – – –
Level
0.1993 0.1024 0.0215 0.1685
0.1414
0.1234
0.1555 0.0002 0.5665
0.1463 1 – – –
Tenure
0.0263
0.0987 0.1918
0.1697
0.1456
0.1630
0.1812 0.0980 0.4572
0.0324 0.4728 1 – –
Field
0.0876 0.0155 0.0723
0.1528
0.0691
0.0938
0.0956
0.1426 0.0259 0.2291
0.0695 0.1645 1 –
Support
0.1019 0.0499 0.1148
0.1033 0.4223 0.2929 0.4204 0.0894 0.0708 0.1317
0.1312
0.0272
0.0374 1
Note: Table II shows the results of analysis between the variables used in this research
Early-stage

education

1181
higher
teachers in

Analysis of
relationships between
Table II.

variables
 12,5

1182

Table III.
JARHE

professionalism
determination of
Results of analysis of

professionalization and
Panel A
Variable Pfm2 Pfm3 Pfz2 Pfz3 THP

Intercept 0.7251 (0.7271) 0.4201 (0.4614)
1.7693 (
2.2872)**
1.2388 (
1.4997)
1.9198 (
2.4243)**
Gender
0.0031 (
0.0127)
0.0075 (
0.0349)
0.2754 (
1.711)* 0.3257 (1.6133)** 0.4130 (2.1297)**
Age
0.0878 (
2.5409)**
0.0485 (
1.5650) 0.0413 (1.8577)* 0.0064 (0.2178)
0.0001 (
0.0024)
Status 0.3571 (1.7863)*
0.0167 (
0.0703)
0.7639 (
2.484)**
0.3336 (
1.0045) 0.4429 (1.585)*
Level 0.5798 (2.5365)** 0.0762 (0.3869)
0.3038 (
1,6893)*
0.0829 (
0.4229) 0.5357 (2.9172)***
Field 0.1601 (0.6501) 0.0252 (0.1146)
0.0493 (
0,2661)
0.0264 (
0.1321) 0.4379 (2.2874)**
Tenure
0.0380 (
0.9319) 0.0724 (2.0499)**
0.0301 (
1.0042)
0.0623 (
2.0079)** 0.0674 (2.1748)**
Support 0.1404 (1.6556)* 0.2089 (2.0562)** 0.3882 (4.885)*** 0.2629 (3.0721)*** 0.0984 (1.5057)*
Pfm1 – –
0.1692 (
1,9605)** – –
Pfm2 – – –
0.1578 (
1.9654)* –
Pfz1 0.0931 (0.7135) – – – –
Pfz2 –
0.2089 (
1.8841)* – – –
2
adj-R 0.0267 0.0324 0.2549 0.1104 0.2268
Note: The utilized model of regression for testing the reciprocal influence of professionalism and professionalization is

pfzt2 ¼ α þ β1 pfmt1 þ β2 Attributes þ β3 Status þ β4 Tenure þ β5 Support þ ε (3)

pfmt2 ¼ α þ β1 pfzt1 þ β2 Attributes þ β3 Status þ β4 Tenure þ β5 Support þ ε (4)
This table presents the results of regression analysis for the level of professionalization based on the quality of professionalism of early-stage lecturers. T-statistic is
presented in parentheses, and the significance of analysis results are marked by ***, **, and * based on consecutive two-way testing at levels of 1%, 5%, and 10%.
stage lecturers on the professionalism they possess, wherein early-stage lecturers have Early-stage
gained the awareness to develop their knowledge and skills. All models include the attributes teachers in
of lecturers, the status of the college (status), tenure, and institution support that early-stage
lecturers possess in the conducted testing. Next, in the last model, this research carried out
higher
determination testing on professionalization, measured using the take-home pay that the education
early-stage lecturers earn.
Based on the results provided in Table III, early-stage lecturers are not motivated by the
reward they will get to improve their professionalism. Instead, they are inclined to obtain the 1183
functional position (level stats of 2.5365, with p-value of 0.0127), and working in a state college
needs courage (state stats of 1.7863, with p-value of 0.0837). Nevertheless, when they are
rewarded with higher appreciation, the quality of their independent work tends to decrease
(Pfz2 stats of
1.8841, with p-value of 0.0624).
At the early stage of their careers, early-stage lecturers tend to possess a high quality of
professionalism. As an early-stage lecturer becomes more productive at the start of the
profession, the lecturer feels that the appreciation gained is lacking (Pfm1 stats of
1.9605,
with p-value of 0.0423). Working at a state college does not make an early-stage lecturer feel
that proper appreciation has been gained (status stats of
2.484, with p-value of 0.0003), in
particular for female lecturers (gender stats of
1.711, with p-value of 0.0901) and those with
functional position (level stats of
1.6893, with p-value of 0.0942).
At the next level of professionalization, with the condition that the appreciation received
by early-stage lecturers exceeds their performance, the quality of professionalism of the
lecturers compared to how they respond to the discrepancy between their appreciation and
performance becomes stronger. This is proven by the results of Panel A testing for Pfz3,
which is negative and significant (Pfm2 stats of
1.9654, with p-value of 0.0521).
Testing of the professionalism of early-stage lecturers through the effect of
professionalization had been conducted as reciprocal analysis, and it proves that
professionalization affected the quality of professionalism of early-stage lecturers and vice
versa. However, the effect of one on another is a negative effect. The THP test presents the
results of determination testing of professionalization using the take-home pay received by
the lecturers each month. From the results, it could be known that only age from all the
variables tested has no impact on how much the lecturer earns monthly. After all, the support
of institution plays an important role in enhancing early-stage lecturers’ professionalism and
professionalization.

4.3 Professionalism and professionalization of lecturers at the start of their careers

The lecturer profession is seen as a profession that balances intellect, reputation, and
material appreciation. The lecturer profession is contingent upon development of the self-
qualities of knowledge and skills; in other words, lecturer professionalism is increased
continuously as it is one of the demands of the profession and also the demand of the
development of stakeholder needs (which in this case are students and users of graduates).
For example, with the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), all countries involved must at
least prepare its human resources to be competitive and leading when faced with
competition across national borders. Mastery of languages other than the national language
is needed.
The needs of stakeholders change because of the development of needs caused by the
environment, and thus the development of education quality and education providers must at
least exceed what needs to be given to face those challenges. Lecturers are one of the
providers of education who are always demanded to develop their competence. This is even
more so in the face of technological development, which is notably more rapid compared to
environmental and policy development. In fact, what often occurs is that the rapid
development of technology triggers environmental development and changes in policies.
JARHE From the early development stage of the lecturer profession to the continued development
12,5 stage, all people with the profession of lecturers will always attempt to increase knowledge
through knowledge transfer because of the desire to compete to enter the organizational
structure (Patton and MacMahon, 2014), which in this case is the college. Fundamentally,
each individual has the drive to develop according to environmental demands, which means
that in development, the paradigm of actors will change from being motivated to enter a
system to become describing the occupation and uncovering as well as increasing experience
1184 from an occupation.
To increase their experience, lecturers at the beginning of their careers are encouraged to
think more and act more. Increasing professionalism becomes commonplace and even
necessary to be performed. One of the motivations to increase professionalism is the material
appreciation to be gained. Occupation and life become inseparable things. Wolfe and Kolb
(1980) emphasize that career development is not only about the occupation, but is also a
locomotor of change in aspects of life, or because of pressure and environmental stress, family
duties, and other contexts that may differ among actors (Altun, 2017).
It is normal for someone who has just started a profession to feel that the competence
possessed is still lacking compared to peers. Several periods later, the motivation or
encouragement to develop and increase competence emerges. In this case, a lecturer conducts
self-development by participating in training that is relevant to the field of knowledge and
profession. With participation in the training, it is expected that the competence possessed by
lecturers, in particular those of the early stage, increases and can support the development of
their careers.
The self-development process for lecturers literally constitutes how they interact with the
surrounding environment, respond to and process every stimulus that they receive, and
realize the development in the form of actions, in order to decide to develop or remain as is.
Kington et al. (2014) emphasize that the development of educator careers determines changes
in the professionalism possessed throughout the career. A lecturer who has just joined an
educational institution will feel that support has been obtained from the leader of the
institution, while interaction with peers will also provide motivation to adjust themselves and
interaction with students will motivate them to further understand their needs. At the start of
the career, an educator will be motivated to create a positive relationship with students in
order to create an effective learning environment and to increase their professionalism.
The consequence that must be faced is that in the process of self-development, lecturers
must also continue to carry out their professional duties, as well as other supporting
activities. The energy and resources that must be spent are greater, whilst the income or
appreciation gained by lecturers at the start of their career can be said to be stagnant or
tending to not experience significant changes, although the intensity of activities or workload
increases.
Interestingly, a lecturer will continue to carry out all duties, even if there are no significant
changes in the chart of income or appreciation. This is because there is the moral
responsibility as an educator. In addition, the dynamics of the work environment will also
have an effect. Once again, the desire to compete will always be present in each individual, no
matter the profession; if not for survival, this is to prove the existence of oneself. Recognition
of performance may also be considered as professionalization. This is in line with the results
of a research conducted by Nias (2017) that showed that the career development of a person is
not removed from the context of the institution. Further, in order to achieve success, there
needs to be equity and integrity synergized with each other to create opportunity (Gurl
et al., 2016).
Previous research that stated that an increase in professionalism would be followed by an
increase in professionalization may be applied to the case of professionalism and
professionalization of early-stage lecturers by defining professionalization in more detail
and considering the length of time a lecturer has served at an institution or a person has Early-stage
become a lecturer. Changes in the environment do not mean that a person must start teachers in
everything again from scratch, but these changes do have an effect on the continuous process
of adjustment and development.
higher
education
4.4 Asymmetry of lecturer professionalization at the start of the career
Discussion of the conceptual application of increased professionalism and professionalization
in this research that slightly differs from previous research becomes something interesting to
1185
be explored further. In this research, it was found that increased lecturer professionalism
at the start of the career was not followed by an increase in the received income or
appreciation, and, in fact, this even causes the received income to decrease. There is a
fundamental question that may be posed: do lecturers at the start of their careers actually
experience a decrease in income or in appreciation while increasing the quality of their
professionalism? On the other hand, do early-stage lecturers that attempt to increase the
quality of their performance or professionalism not receive appreciation equivalent to their
efforts?
Fundamentally, the appreciation given to lecturers will result from the quality of their
performance, but at the start of their careers, the appreciation that is given is based more on
the size of their workload as well as on their level of professionalism. On the other hand,
lecturers at the initial stage of their careers tend to attempt to further increase their abilities
and show their work by taking on duties that tend to be voluntary, both institutionally and
personally. These kinds of efforts certainly require the spending of time and resources. As
such, it becomes normal that the professionalism of early-stage lecturers increases, but an
increase in material appreciation does not follow. Even so, appreciation in the form of trust
and promotion for a certain responsibility can also be seen as an increase in
professionalization, although the benefits cannot be directly felt (Wallace, 1995; Hodson
and Sullivan, 1995; Ingersoll et al., 1997).

5. Conclusion
The issue of professionalism and professionalization of lecturers or educators is always
developing, and is therefore boundless in the possibilities for research. Increasing
professionalism is a demand that is unavoidable because of the increase in
professionalization toward the profession. The consequence of this increase is the increase
in appreciation that is received by each educator from each institution. This research
attempted to examine the increase in professionalism toward the professionalization of
lecturers at the start of their careers, and vice versa.
Based on the results of this research, professionalism and professionalization of
lecturers at the start of their careers tend to be on par with in-service lecturers or
educators. The increase in lecturer professionalism at the start of the career is not directly
related to the increase in their professionalization; this is because lecturers at the start of
their careers tend to voluntarily take on duties that exceed what they are allotted, to
increase the trust from their superiors. This has the potential for long-term contributions.
Even in the worst case, the higher the appreciation they get, the lower their quality of
professionalism will be. In this case, higher education institutions in Indonesia should
reevaluate how the professionalism of the lecturers should be improved and which
mechanism will be the best to compensate them. It is quite interesting to study further
about this pattern; hence, comparing the similar study in different countries is necessary.
In addition, the data of material used in this research only consist of estimated figures
from each respondent, while the components of appreciation for lecturers may vary
depending on their respective institutions.
JARHE References
12,5 UNESCO (2013), “ITL – innovative teaching and learning research: a global look at pedagogies for
21st century skills”, ICT in Education, UNESCO, Bangkok, available at: www.unescobkk.
org/ education/ ict/online-resources/databases/ict-in-education-database/item/article/innovative
teaching-andlearning-itl-research-a-global-look-at-pedagogies-for-21 st century-skills/ (accessed
18 August 2016).
Altun, M. (2017), “International career development in education: what teachers bring home”,
1186 International Journal of Social Sciences and Educational Studies, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 104-109.
Bartol, K.M. and Locke, E.A. (2000), “Incentives and motivation”, Compensation in Organizations:
Current research and practice, Vol. 104.
Bartol, K.M. and Srivastava, A. (2002), “Encouraging knowledge sharing: the role of organizational
reward systems”, Journal of Leadership and Organization Studies, Vol. 9, pp. 64-76.
Chambers, J. and Bobbitt, S.A. (1996), “The Patterns of Teacher Compensation, Statistical Analysis
Report”, US Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP,
Washington, DC, pp. 20402-29328.
Darling-Hammond, L. (1984), “Beyond the Commission Reports, The Coming Crisis in Teaching”, The
Rand Corporation, Publications Department, 1700 Main Street, PO Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA,
pp. 90406-92138.
Darling-Hammond, L. (1994), The Current Status of Teaching and Teacher Development in the United States.
Darling-Hammond, L., Berry, B. and Thoreson, A. (2001), “Does teacher certification matter?
Evaluating the evidence”, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 57-77.
Davenport,T. and Prusak, L. (1998), Working Knowledge, Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge.
De Boer, H., Timmermans, A.C. and van der Werf, M.P.C. (2018), “The effects of teacher expectation
interventions on teachers’ expectations and student achievement: narrative review and meta-
analysis”, Educational Research and Evaluation, Vol. 24 No. 3-5, pp. 180-200, doi: 10.1080/
13803611.2018.1550834.
Evans, M.P. (2011), “Revisiting emotional geographies: implications for family engagement and
education policy in the United States”, Journal of Educational Change, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 241-255.
Goldhaber, D.D. and Brewer, D.J. (2000), “Does teacher certification matter? High school teacher
certification status and student achievement”, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis,
Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 129-145.
Gupta, A. (2017), “Policy trends in teacher professionalization and professionalism in India”, In
Contemporary Issues and Challenge in Early Childhood Education in the Asia-Pacific Region,
Springer, Singapore, pp. 221-239.
Gurl, T.J., Caraballo, L., Grey, L., Gunn, J.H., Gerwin, D. and Bembenutty, H. (2016), “The intersection
of professionalization, policy, performance assessment, and privatization as a conceptual frame
in teacher education”, In Policy, Professionalization, Privatization, and Performance Assessment,
Springer, Cham, pp. 29-44.
Hargreaves, A. (2000), “Four ages of professionalism and professional learning”, Teachers and
Teaching: Theory and Practice, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 151-182.
Hodson, R. and Sullivan, T. (1995), “Professions and professionals”, The Social Organization of Work,
pp. 287-314.
Hutt, E.L., Gottlieb, J. and Cohen, J.J. (2018), “Diffusion in a vacuum: edTPA, legitimacy, and the
rhetoric of teacher professionalization”, Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol. 69, pp. 52-61.
Ingersoll, R.M., Alsalam, N., Bobbitt, S. and Quinn, P. (1997), Teacher Professionalization and Teacher
Commitment: A Multilevel Analysis, DIANE Publishing.
Kane, T.J., Rockoff, J.E. and Staiger, D.O. (2008), “What does certification tell us about teacher
effectiveness? Evidence from New York City”, Economics of Education Review, Vol. 27 No. 6,
pp. 615-631.
Kington, A., Reed, N. and Sammons, P. (2014), “Teachers’ constructs of effective classroom practice: Early-stage
variations across career phases”, Research Papers in Education, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 534-556.
teachers in
Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D. and Hackett, G. (1994), “Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career
and academic interest, choice, and performance”, [Monograph], Journal of Vocational Behavior,
higher
Vol. 45, pp. 79-122. education
Linz and Semykina (2012), “What makes worker happy? Anticipated reward and job satisfaction”,
Industrial Relation, Vol. 51 No. 4, pp. 811-844.
1187
Macheridis, N. and Paulsson, A. (2017), “Professionalism between profession and governance: how
university teachers’ professionalism shapes coordination”, Studies in Higher Education, pp. 1-16.
Nias, J. (2017), “A more distant drummer: teacher development as the development of self”, In
Education and Social Change, Routledge, pp. 3-28.
OECD (2018), The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030, OECD Education Working Papers,
23, doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1827.2012.02814.x.
Patton, W. and McMahon, M. (2014), Career Development and Systems Theory: Connecting Theory and
Practice, Vol. 2, Springer.
Sachs, J. (2016), “Teacher professionalism: why are we still talking about it?”, Teachers and Teaching,
Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 413-425.
Tichenor, M.S. and Tichenor, J.M. (2005), “Understanding Teachers’ Perspectives on Professionalism”,
Professional Educator, Vol. 27, pp. 89-95.
Torres, A.C. and Weiner, J. (2018), “The new professionalism? Charter teachers’ experiences and
qualities of the teaching profession”, Education Policy Analysis Archives, Vol. 26, p. 19.
Walsh, K. (2001), Teacher Certification Reconsidered: Stumbling for Quality, Research Report, Abell
Foundation, Baltimore, MD.
Wardoyo, C., Herdiani, A. and Sulikah, S. (2017), “Teacher professionalism: analysis of
professionalism phases”, International Education Studies, Vol. 10 No. 4, p. 90.
Wilkesmann, U. and Schmid, C.J. (2012), “The impacts of new governance on teaching at German
universities: findings from a national survey”, Higher Education, Vol. 63 No. 1, pp. 33-52.
Wolfe, D.M. and Kolb, D.A. (1980), “Beyond specialization: the quest for integration in midcareer”, in
Derr, C.B. (Ed), Work, Family, and Career, Praeger.

Further reading
Mahmud, A., Susilowati, N. and Tusayanah, T. (2019), “Human values model analysis on
organizational commitment in higher education”, Jurnal Dinamika Manajemen, Vol 10 No. 1,
pp. 46-57, doi: 10.15294/jdm.v10i1.17569.
Wallace, J.E. (1995), “Organizational and professional commitment in professional and
nonprofessional organizations”, Administrative Science Quarterly, pp. 228-255.
Zeichner, K.M. (2017), “Competition, economic rationalization, increased surveillance, and attacks on
diversity: neo-liberalism and the transformation of teacher education in the US”, In The Struggle
for the Soul of Teacher Education, Routledge, pp. 52-74.

Corresponding author
Aulia Herdiani can be contacted at: aulia.herdiani.fe@um.ac.id

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com