Aspiration Forum in Minor Seminary St. Petrus Canisius of Mertoyudan

By antonius sulistyono
Oct 29th, 2019

At the moment, teachers and students have come together in the recreation room to work on a school programme together. Students are preparing data and recommendations about the teaching and learning process which will be shared through an aspiration forum. Every class level has time scheduled to work on this programme.

What is the background and what are the goals of this programme?

The background of this programme came from the idea to repair our teaching and learning process and to build conciousness teaching and learning for teachers and students as an educational subject.  The goals of the aspiration forum programme are to build the democratic character of the students at Minor Seminary St. Petrus Canisius of Mertoyudan such as : respect for others, respect for difference of opinion, understanding of the school vision. As well as that, this programme also has as a goal to improve students’ learning , because with this programme, students have the opportunity to share their aspirations and recommendations about the teaching methods used in class, experience learning in the class in a different way, understand research-based learning, and explore ways in which the teachers’ teaching style can encourage creative learning.

The process of the aspiration forum is divided into three steps.

Firstly, students have the opportunity to give input, recommendations, aspirations and evaluate the teaching and learning process. We found that the students provided us with positive and constructive aspirations and recommendations. The students’ aspirations served as  good input to increase the quality of the teaching, in order to achieve the best quality of teaching and learning. For example : the students recommended that in every class, the teacher must explain the goals of studying the topic in question. “what is the goal, when we are studying electrons and protons in physics?” , what is the goal, when we are studying politics?”. These are essential questions which help us to understand and foster students’ motivation to learn about physics and politics for example. These recommendations became the reflection topic for teachers to help them become more more conscious of the significance of learning goals.

Secondly, teachers have the opportunity to respond to the recommendations and evaluations made by the students. For example: one teacher responded to the students’ recommendation. He said, “thanks for this opportunity, I  appreciate this programme and I appreciate all of the input, recommendations, and evaluations of our teaching and learning process. In relation to the learning goals, I agree with your recommendation, every student must understand the learning  goals in order to understand the advantages of learning science, for example, and in order to really be motivated to learn. This has now become the spirit for our students to learn about topics in class and to make the learning process in our classes more attractive.”

Thirdly, Confirmation and reflection from our School Principle.

The Principle shared his reflection, motivation and confirmation of this programme. He confirmed the value of giving students and teachers the space to share their aspirations and recommendations in this forum to help develop the best quality of teaching and learning, and to achieve our common vision in Minor Seminary St. Petrus Canisius of Mertoyudan Magelang.