Index

Abstract

Good-quality teacher is a crucial pillar of education system. An effort to develop professional competence of preservice teachers is carried out through teaching practice courses. This study aimed to uncover the policy and implementation of independent teaching practice, and its implications for the competence of students as preservice teachers. The data was collected through documentation of teaching practice manual and reports, and interviews with institutional leaders, management teams, supervisors, master teachers and students. The collected data was analyzed qualitatively according to model of Miles and Huberman that consists of data reduction, data display and drawing conclusion. Scoring of the students’ lesson plans and teaching via videos were conducted to measure the levels of students’ professional competencies. The results showed that: the teaching practice was implemented by referring to the government policies that prioritize public health and safety; the teaching practice was carried out independently-online by students, and collaborated with educational institutions adjacent to the student's home; based on the lesson plans and the teaching videos assessment, the professional competence of students during the pandemic had developed although not optimally.

Keywords: Lesson plan, Online teaching, Preservice teacher, Teacher competence, Teacher professional development, Teaching video.

Received: 31 May 2022 / Revised: 2 August 2022 / Accepted: 18 August 2022 / Published: 5 September 2022

Contribution/ Originality

This study investigated the policy and implementation of online teaching practice of preservice teachers during pandemic COVID-19. It contributes to the development of educational disciplines, especially the professional development of preservice teachers in the light of government policies that prioritize public health and safety.

1. INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 and its variants are still haunting the world communities (Crawford et al., 2020; Grek & Landri, 2021) including Indonesia. As one of the efforts to avoid its spread, Indonesian government implemented a policy of limiting community activities, as reported by Permatasari (2021). This condition greatly affected various segments of community activities, including educational institutions. To avoid crowds that could become clusters of the spread of the COVID-19, all levels of education including tertiary campuses were closed for various student activities. As the learning process must continue to run under the academic calendar, learning activities were carried out using online systems and platforms as a mandatory change (Korkmaz & Toraman, 2020), and the teaching practice courses was undertaken in independent and collaboration form.

An institution of teacher education has a vision to produce professional teachers (Jelena, Vladeta, & Dejan, 2019). Teaching professionalism includes four competencies (pedagogic, professional, personality and social) that must be developed through theoretical and practical learning. The development of pedagogic competencies that emphasize cognitive abilities (mastery of knowledge) is theoretically possible by referring to various teaching materials including online learning resources. However, the development of professional, personality and social competencies should be ideally carried out through direct training and mentoring. Furthermore, professional teachers must be able to transfer knowledge, values ​​and skills to their students. This ability must be developed through stages of tiered practice with intensive assistance until it reaches the highest level where preservice teachers are ready to carry out their duties as professional independent teachers (Sims & Fletcher-Wood, 2021). In the limited conditions to carry out face-to-face activities, education managers are forced to modify curriculum and learning into online form (Roman, 2020). These modifications have implications for the provision of supporting devices, both software (such as policy readiness and the ability of education managers) and hardware (laptops, mobile phones, internet networks, internet connections, and quota availability).

Several previous studies have focused on increasing the competence of pre-service teacher students through micro-teaching courses (De Lange & Nerland, 2018; Rosali & Singkawijaya, 2020; Wangchuk, 2019) ; online teaching practice in elementary school (Brinia & Psoni, 2021; Ramot & Donitsa-Schmidt, 2021; Weldon, Ma, Ho, & Li, 2021) ; and use of interactive media in teaching and learning process (Littlejohn et al., 2021; Meri et al., 2022; Tang et al., 2020) . Results of these researches have indicated the implementation of practical courses online, but have not linked the professionalism of preservice teachers with their teaching. Therefore, this topic is very interesting to study in order to complement the results of these studies. In line with this premise, several research questions were formulated as follows: (1) What is the institution's policy regarding the implementation of teaching practice courses? (2) How is the implementation of the teaching practice courses done? (3) What is the implication for the professional competence of preservice teachers?

This research is expected to enrich insight and reference for the professional development of preservice teachers. It would also display input and evaluation of independent teaching practice management as well as reflection material for increasing students’ professionalism in carrying out their duties as professional teachers.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Teacher Competence

Competence is defined as the quality or state of being competent, such as the quality or state of having sufficient knowledge, judgment, skill, or strength (as for a particular duty or in a particular respect) (Merriam-Webster, 2019). It is also defined as the capacity to respond to individual, or societal, demands in order to perform an activity or complete a given task (Global, 2022). The two definitions of competence show individual’s internal abilities and ability to respond to external stimuli to carry out activities or to complete assigned tasks. Thus, teacher competence is ability of teacher to carry out his obligations responsibly and appropriately in the sides of stakeholders (Carriger, 2018). The teacher competence includes knowledge, skills and values that affect learning performance. Competencies that emerge in a conducive environment can become performance. Teacher performance is an achievement gained by a teacher in carrying out learning tasks for a certain period according to predetermined standards and criteria (Nasher, 2018). Thus, good performance requires adequate competence.

Pianda (2018) states that competence includes six aspects: knowledge (awareness in the cognitive field), understanding (the cognitive and affective depth of the individual), values (awareness of behavior integrated within a person), ability (the potential possessed by individuals to carry out tasks), attitude (the reaction to external stimuli), and interest (person's tendency to do an action). In the Law on Teachers and Lecturers (Indonesian Act No. 14, 2005), the six aspects of teacher competence are grouped into four competencies: pedagogic, personality, social, and professional. Pedagogic competence is the ability to design learning, implement learning, evaluate learning, and develop the potential of students. Personality competence is a personal ability that reflects a steady, stable, mature, wise and authoritative personality, becomes an example for students, and has noble character. Social competence, according to Junghye, Jeongwha, Zheng, and Yang (2022), is the ability to communicate and interact effectively with students, education staff, parents/guardians of students, and the surrounding community. Professional competence is mastery of learning materials, competency standards and standard competencies, material development, continuous professional development, and the use of information and communication technology for communication and self-development.

2.2. Professional Competence

Professional competence of educators (teachers and lecturers) can be seen from two main elements, learning planning and learning implementation. Learning planning is an activity to formulate and determine learning objectives, strategies, techniques, and media to achieve general learning objectives (Radkevych, Kravets, Herliand, Radkevych, & Kozak, 2021). Furthermore, Zimmer and Matthews (2022) asserted that learning planning is a decision-making process as a result of thinking rationally about certain learning goals and objectives. The decision-making is in the form of changes in behavior and a series of activities that must be carried out as an effort to achieve goals by utilizing all existing potential and learning resources. The lesson plan prepared must meet three aspects, i.e., the objectives or indicators of learning achievement, learning steps, and learning assessment.

Learning implementation is a process that is arranged in such a way that its implementation achieves the expected results (Zen, Ropo, & Kupila, 2022). Basically, the implementation of online learning is the adoption of offline learning systems such as collaborative, communicative, creative, effective learning, and the motivation of students (Susanti, 2021). The distinction is that online learning requires innovative learning strategies through appropriate and adequate technology applications. If the strategies used in online learning are limited to conventional methods, it is certain that the effectiveness of learning and student motivation will be low. These conventional methods include lecture or tutorial methods that only focus on the transfer of knowledge, questions and answers that are only to determine student understanding, delivery of material in the form of soft files with various task instructions without providing an understanding of the purpose of the task. The quality of learning implementation can be seen from two main aspects, they are learning activities and personality. Learning activities include three steps, i.e., preliminary activities, core activities, and closing activities (Kwesi, 2022). The personality in the implementation of learning is the appearance attached to the teacher during the learning process. This personality includes a charming appearance, dignified, firm, full of soul calling, and physical performance.

2.3. Teacher Professional Development

Teacher professional development follows a progression of both social-emotional competencies and classroom management (Junghye et al., 2022). A teacher will experience stagnation or even outdated if his competence is not developed. The process of development can be done through in-service training or other activities to obtain certification. Radkevych et al. (2021) explained that professional competence can be developed on some steps. They include expanding informational and educational space for actors in the educational process and individualizing learning using modern information resources (digital technologies); ensuring the interaction between actors in the educational process, as well as the joint realization of searching, cognitive and research activities (collaborative activities); and organizing the educational process under the social partnership of the professional education system to the emergence of innovations in production and the service sector. Koech and Philip (2019) state that a teacher as a professional has to consider five important things: planning and implementing a quality learning process, as well as assessing and processing the results of the assessment; developing a sustainable profession in line with the development of advances in science, technology and art; acting objectively and not discriminating against students; upholding all laws and regulations regarding teachers; and participating in fostering national unity and integrity.

Preservice teachers can also develop themselves to become professional teachers. The coaching is done through lectures. Teacher education plays an important role in implementing education for students as preservice teachers. This goes with the question of what knowledge and abilities students should acquire and what is needed to make the development of appropriate competencies possible (Bürgener & Barth, 2018). In environmental conditions with the COVID-19 outbreak, which made it impossible to hold face-to-face lectures, lectures were carried out online. Online lectures are lectures with internet media that allow students to participate in the learning process even without being physically present in the same location as that of the lecturer (Bozkurt & Sharma, 2020). In online learning, educators (lecturers/teachers) must be able to physically move the face-to-face classroom atmosphere into a virtual classroom atmosphere. There are two events in online learning, synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous instruction is learning by direct communication with students. In asynchronous instruction, learning is carried out with indirect media where teaching materials are designed in the form of modules, power points, pdfs, voice recordings, or videos that are sent to students (Zhou et al., 2020).

3. METHOD

This research used mixed method (qualitative-quantitative) design. The qualitative data was presented in narrative form as the management policy of the independent and independent-collaboration teaching practice course, and the teaching practice implementation. The quantitative data was presented in numerical form as the assessment scores of the lesson plans and teaching practice videos. This research can also be categorized as evaluative research as it presented the final result of the implementation of online teaching practice indicating the professional competence levels of student teachers.

This research was conducted at the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Walisongo State Islamic University, Semarang, Indonesia. This research focused on three main types of data: institutional policies in carrying out the Independent and Independent-Collaboration teaching practice courses; implementation of the teaching practice; and the implications for the professionalism of student teachers through the assessments of lesson plans and teaching practice videos. The data sources for this research were: the faculty leaders as policy makers for the implementation of the teaching practice course; the managers of the microteaching laboratory as teaching practice organizers; field supervisors; master teachers; and students participating in teaching practice.

The researcher used documentation to collect the rules and policies for managing the Independent and Independent-Collaboration teaching practice course, lesson plans, and teaching practice videos. In-depth interviews were conducted with the faculty leaders related to management policies; the manager of the microteaching laboratory related to the implementation; five field supervisors related to the student guidance process and the performance and achievement of students’ professional competencies; five master teachers related to the student guidance process at the collaborative institutions, students’ performance and competency achievements; and four practical students related to their experiences in participating in the Independent and Independent-Collaboration teaching practice. The collected data was analyzed qualitatively related to the policy and implementation of the teaching practice. A total of 38 samples of lesson plans and teaching practice videos were analyzed quantitatively to find the final result of professional competence as part of teacher competence achievement of the preservice teachers. Analysis of the lesson plan and the teaching practice videos used instruments developed by the National Team for Teacher Professional Education 2021.

This research began with communication to the faculty leaders and the manager of the microteaching laboratory. From this communication, various data were obtained: (1) policy and implementation rules, some of which were written in the teaching practice manual; (2) the steps of implementation in both the document of teaching practice report and through interviews; (3) instructions for developing research data searches through the faculty website; (4) documents of lesson plans and teaching practice videos from students’ teaching practice reports; (5) the names of field supervisors and master teachers as sources of interview data. The next step was to download the files from the faculty website and carry out data analysis related to the formulation of the first problem of the research. The next step was to analyze the lesson plans and the teaching practice videos. The analysis of this document began with assessing the lesson plans and the teaching practice videos, processing the numerical data quantitatively, either by descriptive statistics or by inferential statistical analysis to find correlation between lesson plan scores and teaching video scores. The final step was to prepare a report. The report was prepared with several revisions. The revision was carried out to improve the validity and reliability of the data through triangulation of field data, synchronization of field data with research design, and completeness of analysis and discussion of research findings.

4. FINDINGS

4.1. Policy of Implementing the Teaching Practice Course

The teaching practice course in the odd semester (July to December) of 2021 was carried out in Independent and Independent-Collaboration form¹ , ². The course was followed by 645 students as preservice teachers from eight majors (Islamic Religious Education, Arabic Education, English Education, Education Management, Islamic Primary School Teacher Education, and Early Childhood Islamic Education). The briefing was opened by the Dean of the faculty. To the students, the Dean suggested that they have to bring out their creative ideas during the course. Accordingly, enthusiasm and health must be maintained in order to support the smooth running of the teaching practice activities. The performance of the Microteaching Laboratory organizers was challenged in implementing this teaching practice course which was different from that in the previous normal period. Head of Microteaching Laboratory said that the course participants were students of preservice teachers and education personnel, who must be able to educate, teach, and build communication both personally and socially. In particular, the purpose of this course is to guide students to have skills and competencies in teaching. In practice, the students are given the authority to determine partner educational institutions (schools/madrasas) independently around their own homes. They are allowed to teach in non-formal institutions such as Islamic boarding schools and the Quranic education institution, or even teach their siblings who are still of school age in elementary, junior, and senior high schools. They are also allowed to teach in their own homes with the guidance of lecturers as the field supervisors. However, the students are required to make lesson plan, syllabus, teaching practice video and final report. In essence, the faculty facilitates the process of implementing teaching practice course as an educational emergency during this COVID-19 period (Doc of FITK, 2020) . To take the teaching practice course, students must have passed the prerequisite courses. Although specifically, students in each department must pass certain courses according to the specifications of their majors, but in general they must pass courses that underlie the competence of teaching practice (Doc of FITK, 2014). For example, students majoring in Islamic Religious Education must pass courses of (1) tajweed tahfidz (reading and memorizing) of the Quran, (2) studying Islamic education materials in schools & madrasas, (3) learning evaluation, (4) curriculum development, (5) teaching plan, and (6) microteaching.

4.2. Implementation of the PPL

The field experience practice popularly known as PPL (Praktek Pengalaman Lapangan) is an academic program of the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training that must be followed by undergraduate students from all majors, with a weight of four credits. PPL in the odd semester 2021/2022 is carried out in the form of Independent and Independent-Collaboration, where students independently seek their own collaboration at the partner school closest to where they live. The learning activities carried out are adjusted to the situation and conditions in their respective places, as stated in the PPL guidebook³ .

The objectives to be achieved in this PPL are:

Guiding students towards the formation of personalities who have the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed in the formation of the professions of Islamic Religious Education Teachers, Arabic Teachers, Islamic Education Personnel, Islamic Primary School Teachers, English Teachers, and Early Childhood Islamic Education Teachers.

Train and improve students’ teaching competencies so that they can be skillful in carrying out educational tasks both educational and administrative, as well as religious and student guidance services.

Provide experience for students to understand the existence of educational institutions with all their problems, both related to the learning process and school management in general.

Establish and improve institutional cooperative relationships between the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training with Schools, Madrasah, Play-groups, Kindergartens, Boarding Training Schools as the partner institutions in undertaking the PPL.

The expected target to be achieved through this PPL activity is the personality development of students as pre-service teachers who have pedagogic, personality, social, and professional competencies. This PPL was attended by 645 students, managed by 11 committee members and supported by 75 supervisors (Dosen Pembimbing Lapangan (DPL)), 352 organizers of PPL locations (practical school leaders) and 521 master teachers appointed and determined by the Dean of the Faculty.

The Independent PPL is an independent teaching practice activity under the guidance of DPL, where students prepare lesson plans and independent teaching videos without students. Meanwhile, the Independent-Collaboration PPL is the practice of teaching in real classes with students in practical schools, which is carried out online and/or offline in the limited face-to-face learning (Pembelajaran Tatap Muka (PTM)) according to the conditions of each institution, under the guidance of the master teacher and DPL. In the process of the teaching practice, there are focus group discussions (FGD) followed by the organizers of PPL location and the master teachers. During the implementation of the PPL, several practice schools implement a limited form of PTM every day alternately odd and even, as in the state Islamic junior high school (Madrasah Tsanawiyah Negeri (MTsN))1 Jepara⁴ . In this condition, PPL students must prepare themselves with limited PTM and online learning in one class at the same time, known as blended or hybrid learning, so that good learning planning can be carried out.

Before carrying out teaching activities, PPL participating students conduct a series of observations to find out and get to know more closely, both physical and non-physical conditions as well as teaching and learning practices that take place in the schools. This is intended so that PPL participants can prepare a design program of activities that will be carried out during PPL. The demand for an increase in the implementation of the PPL program has consequences for learning and professional classroom management, so that an effective and efficient system can be created. It is effective when the system can achieve competency standards and basic competencies appropriately. It is efficient when the system can support the achievement of competency standards and basic competencies in a timely manner. The implementation of PPL is carried out for the development of student competencies as preservice teachers or education staff.

The first stage when students are in a practical school where they practice is to observe the school environment and learning process in the classroom. The observations are carried out to obtain the following data: student needs, and the supporting facilities and infrastructure; conditions and potentials of both students and schools; cost, time, effort and academic background of the students; consideration and conformity of the agreement with the school; the stated objectives of the PPL and continuity of the program. The next stage is to develop learning tools based on the results of observations. It includes six points. (1) Arranging semester teaching programs and annual teaching programs. The teaching practice undertaken is adjusted to the effective week according to the school's academic calendar. (2) Preparing a syllabus prior to teaching practice. It is used as a guideline or reference for further learning development. It consists of preparation of lesson plans, processing learning activities, providing learning resources, and developing an assessment system. (3) Preparing lesson plans, as a guide for teaching process by the teacher every time they teach. (4) Preparing a list of attendance and a list of student grades that can be obtained from the master teacher. (5) Creating learning media to help students in teaching practice in class and make it easier for students to understand the subject matter. (6) Preparing observation sheets.

Furthermore, students practice teaching in two stages. First, guided teaching practice in which students are accompanied by a tutor to design syllabus, lesson plans, learning media, and teach in class. Before teaching in class, students conduct guidance with the master teacher regarding what material will be conveyed to students. Second, independent-teaching practice where students teach certain subjects thoroughly which includes opening session, delivering material, closing session, and providing evaluations under the supervision of a master teacher. After carrying out teaching practice activities in the classroom, the master teacher provides a review and evaluation of the implementation of teaching practices. The last stage carried out by PPL students is the preparation of PPL activity reports. This report is a benchmark for the success of the PPL activity process and to determine the completeness and achievement of teaching carried out by students. This series of PPL activities ended with the submission of reports by students, submission of grades by DPL and the Master Teachers, and PPL graduation by the PPL Manager.⁵

4.3. Evaluation of Teaching Practice

Assessment of PPL activities was carried out to obtain accurate information about the level of competency achievement of students in carrying out practical teaching tasks or other tasks both independently and in collaboration with schools, kindergartens or Islamic boarding schools where they practice. Assessment of PPL activities was carried out by the parties involved consisting of: PPL managers, master teachers and supervisors which were carried out in an integrated, sustainable, educative, and objective manner. Assessment of PPL activities included 4 aspects, namely:

1. PPL coaching activities, including attendance and discipline in participating in online debriefing. The assessment of this aspect is carried out by the manager of the microteaching laboratory.
2. Independent PPL assignments, the value is given by DPL.
3. Independent-Collaboration PPL assignments, the value is given by the master teacher.
4. Preparation of the PPL Report, followed by the final score compiled by the microteaching laboratory manager.

The professional competence as part of teacher competence evaluation of PPL students was taken from the quality of online lesson plans  and teaching practices in the form of teaching videos as recommended by Indrawati (2021). The assessment instrument for the lesson plans and teaching videos was adopted from the instruments prepared by the central committee of Teacher Professional Education-2021, Ministry of Education and Culture. The display data from the sample lesson plans and learning videos for PPL students, can be seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Lesson plan and teaching video scores of PPL students.

The lesson plan assessment instrument consisted of 19 items, which were divided into 3 aspects. There were 8 items of learning objectives/indicators of learning outcomes, 8 items of learning steps, and 3 items of learning assessment. Each item had a score range of 1-10. The score range was divided into four criteria: very low (1-2), low (3-5), good (6-8) and very good (9-10). When the range of item scores was combined with all items by taking into account the upper and lower limit scores, certain criteria and the number of respondents were obtained as shown in Table 1.

Criteria	Ranges	Number of respondents
Very Low	19 - 47	0
Low	48 - 104	13
Good	105 - 161	25
Very Good	162 - 190	0

The data shows that there are 13 students who got a 'low' score of lesson plan and 25 students who got a 'good' score of it.

The teaching practice instrument consisted of 38 items, which were divided into two aspects: 20 items of teaching activities, which included preliminary, core, and closing activities; and 18 items of personality, which included charming, authoritative, firm, full of soul calling, and physical appearance. Each item had a score range of 1-10. The score range was divided into four criteria: very low (1-2), low (3-5), good (6-8) and very good (9-10). When the range of item scores was combined with all items by taking into account the upper and lower limit scores, certain criteria and the number of respondents were obtained as shown in Table 2.

Criteria	Ranges	Number of respondents
Very Low	38 – 95	0
Low	96 - 209	11
Good	210 - 323	26
Very Good	324 - 380	1

The data shows that there are 11 students who got a 'low' score of teaching practice, 26 students got a 'good' score, and 1 student gets a 'very good' score of it.Furthermore, the correlational calculation between the lesson plan scores and the learning practice scores showed significant results. This means that the higher is the lesson plan score for each respondent, the greater is the learning practice score, as shown in Table 3.

Analysis Result of Descriptive Statistics
	Lesson Plan	Teaching Practice
No. of Sample	38	38
Highest score	151	328
Lowest score	48	108
Mean	105.92	233.63
Variance	682.89	2586.83
Standard deviation	26.13	50.86
Correlation of Pearson Product Moment
Significant Criteria		5%
Degree of freedom		36
Correlation coefficient (r)		0.32
Variables		Lesson Plan
Teaching Practice	r:	0.49
	conclusion:	significant

5. DISCUSSION

Teaching practice lectures are a very important part in equipping the profession of students as preservice teachers (Koech & Philip, 2019). This practical material leads students to master teacher competencies which include pedagogic, professional, personality and social competencies (Indonesian Act No. 14, 2005). In normal times, this practical material is carried out in full face-to-face collaboration with partner schools. In carrying out these activities, students master several prerequisite courses. They are given technical briefing, directed in conducting initial exploration, guided in making preparations, assisted in implementation, evaluated and given input for each stage of learning as a provision for improvement for the next learning stage as stated by De Lange and Nerland (2018). Such detailed and intensive activities, according to Wangchuk (2019), are carried out to equip students to become professional and independent teaching staff, as well as to become agents of change for themselves and their communities, along with the development of science and technology towards an increasingly modern civilization. The problem is that the teaching practice activities must continue even during the COVID-19 pandemic where community activities are strictly limited. In an effort to prioritize public health, all educational institutions are closed as there should be no crowds, so learning activities are carried out from home or remotely or online (Andika, 2020).

Online learning is not a new learning model. It is the adoption of offline learning systems such as collaborative, communicative, creative, effective learning, and the motivation of students (Brinia & Psoni, 2021). It can be done with a variety of adequate preparations. Online learning is also acknowledged to have a positive influence on the level of understanding and student learning outcomes as found in a study by Weldon et al. (2021). However, online learning carried out during the COVID-19 period had a different character. The lessons that were conducted on an emergency basis had not been adequately prepared. The knowledge, attitudes and skills of the teacher, the mental readiness of students and their parents, and the readiness of their learning tools, were all in a very limited condition, below standard and inadequate as suggested by Junghye et al. (2022) and Asghar, Barberà, and Younas (2021). Consequently, adjustments and improvements were made to increase the quality of learning.

Implementation of the PPL in the current study referred to the will of the government such as to comply with the health protocol. Likewise, the manager of the microteaching laboratory as the organizer of the PPL, therefore, prepared and carried out this crucial task. There is no doubt about the readiness of DPL, because online learning at tertiary level of education was also practiced (Meri et al., 2022), which is the evidence of the readiness of master teachers. The obstacle that reduces the effectiveness of the implementation of the PPL is not in the competence of the resource managers and persons in charge (FITK leaders, PPL managers, DPL, and tutors or master teachers), but rather it lies in the management system carried out by the components of the human resources. The management system must be designed in such a way as to accommodate activities that can be carried out during the period of restriction during the COVID-19 pandemic situation as the work of Ramot and Donitsa-Schmidt (2021) and Littlejohn et al. (2021). Lutovac (2020) acknowledged that online learning that takes place as an emergency education practice during the COVID-19 period generally reduces the quality of education both in developed countries and especially in developing countries as it was happened in Indonesia.

The management system of PPL exists at two levels, the first level is at FITK, and the second level is at partner schools/madrasas. The FITK leadership which includes the dean and the department managers should cooperate with the microteaching laboratory manager in designing, preparing, communicating, delivering, and monitoring and evaluating student activities in the PPL as the work of Koech and Philip (2019). The partner schools/madrasas need to increase awareness in accepting, directing, guiding, and assisting PPL students. The concern of partner institutions in providing academic services to practical students must of course be balanced with the attention obtained from FITK. This will require support, especially from the leadership of educational institutions in the form of rewards (incentives) and punishments. Support from peer groups is also highly expected to jointly step forward to provide the best service to students.

6. CONCLUSION

The implementation of PPL in this study has considered the government rules and policies, and adjusted to the restriction conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic by prioritizing social health and safety guarantees, and therefore the PPL was carried out online in the types of independent and independent-collaboration. Consequently, the pedagogic and professional competencies as part of teacher competence of students have not been able to develop optimally, while social and personality competencies are less detectable in their development. However, there is a significant positive correlation between scores of lesson plan and teaching practices video. In another word, the better is the lesson plan, the much more enhanced is the teaching practice of the students.

The results of the research contribute to the development of educational disciplines, especially the professional development of teachers. In addition, it can also be a basis for innovation in teacher competency development, and a practical study of the need for creativity in managing Independent PPL during the enforcement of restrictions on community activities. The PPL implementation in this study was typically carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, with all its consequences. From the limitations of the existing research, it is recommended that the next research is very likely to replicate it in other institutions to find a better Independent-online PPL design; to identify the advantages of Independent-online PPL, especially related to the mastery of IT as the main media that ensures the continuity of the PPL activities.

Funding: This study received no specific financial support.

Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors’ Contributions: All authors contributed equally to the conception and design of the study.

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