Teacher Education Students’ Perceptions and Motivation in Taking a Pre-service Teacher Professional Program

This study aims to examine students’ perception of PPG-SM3T on motivation to participate the teacher professional education program. PPG-SM3T is a professional development program for pre-service teacher in Indonesia. Data for this study were collected from 186 students of economics education using a survey questionnaire. The findings showed that students’ perception of PPG-SM3T positively associated with motivation to participate the program. In addition, the study found that a majority of participants realized that teacher professional development program is significantly important to prepare them to be professional teachers. They also raised concerns, challenges, and the need to participate PPG-SM3T. Findings also suggested that providing information and active socialization on PPG-SM3T may motivate them to participate in the program.

ledge and skills in learning and teaching. Bredeson (2002) stated that the notion of professional development refers to a process where teachers review, renew, and extend their commitment as change agents to the moral objectives of teaching as well as acquire and develop the knowledge, skills, plan, and practice with students through each stage of their teaching with concepts of learning, engagement, and improved practice. Snoek (2010) proposes three elements that contribute to the professionalism of teachers namely knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Professional teachers need to possess adequate knowledge of the subject, knowledge of the teaching and learning process (including being up to date with relevant outcomes of educational research), knowledge of society and knowledge of policy and organization in education. Professional teachers also need to demonstrate skills of effective communication and ability to discuss educational issues with a wider audience, to be able to do research within their schools, to contribute to collaborative learning of their professional communities, and to translate the outcomes of educational research into innovations at their classroom/ school context. Lastly, positive attitude of professional teachers is demonstrated by teachers' dedication to the learning of pupils, commitment to the profession and the collective group of professionals, willingness to contribute to the collective knowledge of the profession, commitment to abide the ethical code of the profession and the integrity of his/her work, willingness to share quality work to the outside world, focus on continuous professional development, and focus on improvement and innovation in teaching.
Teacher professional development programs should enable teachers to work with other colleagues for creating learning support systems within their schools. Professional development should be a continuous process and aim for improving the education processes. In 2005, the Indonesian government issued Teachers law with the following major compo-

INTrODuCTION
The quality of Indonesia's teachers has become the government's concern from time to time. High-quality teachers are one of the keys to improved education quality because teachers are the frontliners in the learning and teaching process (Pangestika & Alfarisa, 2015). The Indonesian government continues to strive to improve the quality of education across the country. However, the quality of education in Indonesia is still relatively low. According to the report published by the World Bank (2010) on Indonesian teachers' competency, Indonesian teachers have low competency test scores on subject knowledge, pedagogic skills, and general academic capacity in which the average score is below 50%. In addition, based on the Global Education Monitoring Report 2016, Indonesia was ranked 14 th out of 14 th emerging economies on teachers' quality (Global Education Monitoring Report Team, 2016). Furthermore, based on the latest report from the 2018 Program for International Study Assessment (PISA), the quality of education based on subjects, Indonesia was ranked 73 rd in Mathematics, 74 th in Reading, and 71 st in Science out of 79 countries (OECD, 2019).
To provide high-quality education requires high-quality teachers, also known as professional teachers. Professional teachers must have various competencies needed in education. Cubukcu (2010) stated that teacher quality and qualifications are important in education. Among others, qualified teachers must have the ability to use various learning methods.
Teachers are required to demonstrate good teaching performance, conduct the tasks ethically, engage knowledge with current issues, and show commitment or responsibility in their teaching practices. Also, teachers are required to actively engage in professional development programs such as workshops, seminars, and training (Tanang & Abu, 2014).
A professional development program is a medium for teachers to develop their know-nents: "the core principle that teaching is a profession; the requirement that all teachers must meet a minimum standard of a fouryear degree before being certified and that all teachers should be formally certified after the four-year degree has been gained; the reform of pre-service teacher education institutions; a mandatory 24-period (8-hour) per work loaded required to gain and maintain certification; a special area allowance to be paid to teachers in defined areas such as remote locations, border regions, and so forth; improved processes of in-school induction and probation; a comprehensive system of teacher appraisal and public service salary increases; a more systematic program of continuing professional development; the merit-based appointment of principals and supervisors based on mastery of four core competencies for educators" (Chang et al., 2013, p. 2).
The PPG program as one of the ways to improve teacher professionalism aims to produce competent prospective teachers in planning, implementing, assessing learning, following up on the results of the assessment, and conducting research. The curriculum structure of PPG consists of workshops in developing learning media, teaching practice through micro-teaching, peer-teaching, and subject enrichment program (Sa'ud, 2010).
According to Lessing and De Witt (2007), a successful teacher professional development program should give teachers opportunities to do learning to teach and enables them to improve their expertise. A professional development program should include relevant activities such as discussions on teacher qualifications, updating teacher's knowledge, practicing teaching with different backgrounds as well as providing knowledge and skills to anticipate changes in society (Perraton, Creed, & Robinson, 2002). According to Law No. 14 of 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers, competence is a set of knowledge, skills, and behaviors that must be possessed, internalized, and mastered by teachers or lecturers in carrying out their professional tasks ("Undang-Undang Nomor 14 Tahun 2005 tentang Guru dan Dosen," 2005). Surya (2003) stated that professional competencies are a variety of abilities needed to become a professional teacher. In addition, the Regulation of the Minister of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia Number 16 of 2007 on academic qualification standards and teacher competencies describes the types of competencies that must be obtained by teachers, including educational, personal, professional, and social competencies, through a teacher professional education program.
In order to improve education quality, the government must first improve the quality of its teaching staff until they become professional teachers. Until now, the government has continued to improve the quality of teachers to become professional teachers, who have the various competencies required by the government policies, by providing a Teacher Professional Education Program or "Pendidikan Profesi Guru" (PPG).
According to Ministry of Education regulation No. 87 of 2013 on Pre-service Teacher Professional Education Program, PPG is a one-year professional development program for pre-service teachers who hold a bachelor degree from education and non-education programs and have talents and interests to become teachers to master full teacher competencies based on the national standards (Kemendikbud, 2013). The graduates of this program will obtain a certificate of professional educators in early childhood education, primary education, and secondary education. After graduating from this program, participants are expected to master their field of study specifically in the area of subject knowledge and pedagogy. They are also expected to improve their organizational learning skills and develop their personal and professional competencies.
The government provides the PPG for prospective teachers as one of the ways to gain professional experiences that can be relied upon and help education graduates to become professional teachers. In order to become professional teachers, graduates of the teaching faculty with a bachelor's degree in education (S.Pd) are still required to obtain PPG ("Sarjana pendidikan harus tetap ikut PPG," 2014). The Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) has developed two types of PPG, namely the Integrated Professional Teacher Education Program with Additional Authority (PPGT) and the PPG-SM3T, which is a PPG for prospective teachers in the frontier, outmost and least developed regions, often referred to as 3T (terdepan, terluar, tertinggal). Between those two PPGs, the Ministry of Education prioritizes the PPG-SM3T considering that these 3T regions have a strategic role in strengthening the national resilience and integrity of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia. In addition, this is an answer to overcome various educational problems in the 3T regions. The PPG is organized by the Educational Personnel Education Institution (LPTK) appointed by the Directorate General of Learning and Student Affairs (DG Belmawa) and Kemendikbud which supervised all the standards and requirements.
Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES) is one of the universities selected to conduct the teacher professional education program, namely PPG-SM3T. PPG-SM3T is a teacher professional education program for Bachelor of Education who have carried out their teacher service assignments in outermost, frontier, and underdeveloped areas for one year. The number of participants taking part in PPG-SM3T in 2017 in UNNES is 311 participants, coming from several universities in Indonesia.
There is an advantage for PPG-SM3T participants; they do not have to pay the PPG training fees because they would receive a scholarship. The teaching and learning activities in the PPG take place not only on campus, but they also include various activities in other places that must be followed. All participants are required to stay in a dormitory. For this purpose, participants also receive living and book allowances.
UNNES is a public university that trains pre-service teachers in its Bachelor of Education programs, one of them is managed by the Department of Economics Education. There were 382 students from the Department of Economics Education in 2014 alone. Education students are prepared to become teachers in a four-year program taking courses related to their respective majors and courses related to teaching methods. After completing their undergraduate education, however, education graduates still need to enroll in a PPG if they are to become professional teachers. The program will grant the students with educator certificates. Certification of teachers is one of the solutions to improve the competency of teachers as professional players in the educational sector (Ansori, Arief, & Sukirno, 2017).
PPG is mandated by Article 2 of Law No. 14/2005 on Teachers and Lecturers. It stated that the position of teachers as professionals is proven by an educator certificate, which is obtained after finishing a teacher professional education. This educator certificate is a substitute for Akta IV, which used to serve as a teaching license before 2005.
Related to the mandatory requirements of the teaching profession to obtain an educator certificate, the government will provide specific mechanism, which are funded entirely by the participants. Regulation of Ministry of Education No. 87/2013 states that the program is specifically designed for pre-service teachers holding a bachelor's degree in Education and Non-Education (Kemendikbud, 2013). In this context, the PPG at UNNES is limited for educational graduates only.
A preliminary study was conducted by interviewing relevant parties. The first interview conducted in February 2017 with the PPG UNNES Secretary revealed that the regular PPG which was planned to begin in 2016 had been postponed due to the large costs ranging from 16 million to 18 million rupiahs per student. Meanwhile, the program that is currently being carried out by UNNES is the PPG-SM3T. Students who take PPG-SM3T do not have to pay the cost of the program because they get a scholarship from the government covering the tuition fees, living allowance, and other expenses.
The second interview was with the coordinator of PPG at the Faculty of Economics UNNES. He stated that there was still a time delay in the implementation of the regular PPG at UNNES. One of the reasons was that the registered participants were concentrated on only one study program, the economic education program. It appeared that the participants were going to be placed into different study programs, such as accounting, office administration, and cooperatives. By having more diverse study programs, it was expected that more students would enroll in the PPG.
The preliminary study also shows that UNNES has prioritized running the PPG-SM3T over the regular PPG. Consequently, when the Department of Economics Education UNNES did not get a quota to hold PPG-SM3T from the Ministry of Education in 2017, the already registered participants were sent to other universities. Eight participants were sent to the Accounting Education program at Yogyakarta State University (UNY), and another eight participants were sent to the Economics Education at Tanjungpura University (UNTAN).
The number of participants of the PPG-SM3T at the Department of Economics Education of UNNES was 16 participants, which was relatively small compared to the number of students graduating from the Economics Education department each year. The small number of participants may indicate the lack of motivation of UNNES Economics Education graduates to participate in the program. On the other hand, PPG is a mandatory program for education graduates should they want to take the teaching profession.
Furthermore, another preliminary study was also conducted by distributing questionnaires to students of Economics Education. The results showed that students did not have comprehensive information on PPG. There was only partial information they could access related to the program. They understood that the educator certificate is one of the requirements needed to become professional teachers, but only a few of them knew that the certificate is obtained by attending a PPG program. They had little information on the PPG program and did not know the complete procedures of how to take part in the PPG program. In addition, students also preferred the regular PPG, which is not currently available at UNNES, to the PPG-SM3T. Meanwhile, some students also preferred taking a master's degree to further their studies to taking a PPG.
On the contrary, some students thought that education graduates do not need to take any PPG program. They thought that their undergraduate program in education has prepared them enough to become professional teachers. They also considered that the PPG for non-education graduates would increase the number of competitors and is unfair to them, the education graduates. In general, the students' views on PPG influence their motivation in taking the PPG program.
Increased motivation to take PPG would increase the number of PPG participants, specifically the PPG-SM3T. In turn, the increased number of PPG participants is one of the indicators of the success of this government program. Shaleh (2009) defines motivation as everything that drives behavior that demands or encourages someone to make ends meet. According to Ivancevich, Konopaske, and Matteson (2007), motivation is one type of response, a behavior that is raised after the process of perception. This means that motivation has a relationship with perception. Also, Walgito (2010) theorizes that perception is organizing and interpreting stimulus so that it is meaningful, and is an integrated response of any individual.
Related to this research, a lot of information received by students about PPG will lead to different perceptions of each student and influence his/her motivation to participate in a PPG program. Every student has different perceptions of PPG. Information about the PPG program has formed diverse perceptions of various parties, specifically of the education students who are expected to become professional teachers in the future. In this study, this perception is examined to determine its effect on students' motivation, to take part in a PPG program.
A previous study conducted by Indriyani and Ismandari (2015) found that the majority of the Economics Education students (50.20%) of the Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta (UNY) cohort 2012 and 2013 were doubtful about the knowledge related to PPG that they received, and many of them (48.23%) were hesitant in enrolling in a PPG program. Furthermore, a study conducted by Larasati and Suyato (2016) found that there was a positive and significant influence of students' perceptions of teacher professionalism on their motivation to become professional teachers. These studies highlight how perceptions of teacher professionalism affect students' interest to take a PPG program.
Educational students are the main target participants of a PPG program. The participants of this study are students of the department of Economics Education in their final year; hence they have a comprehensive understanding of the teaching profession. Their understanding of the teaching profession can be used to assess their perceptions about PPG and their motivation to take a PPG program.
Connectionism theory shows a strong relationship between stimulus and response. Education is done by exposing the subject to situations that contain problems. The relationship between stimulus and response is formulated in three basic laws, namely the law of readiness, the law of training, and the law of effect (Snelbecker, 1974).
The theory of connectionism is related to the process of perception, where the perception also begins with a stimulus caused by an object, then the stimulus is perceived by our senses and is transmitted to the brain for pro-cessing to cause perception (Walgito, 2010). Based on these perceptions, an individual will respond with a different behavior between one individual and another. One form of response, according to (Ivancevich et al., 2007), is motivation. Siagian (2012) explained that someone's interpretation of the sensation impression about their environment would greatly influence their behavior, which in turn determines what factors are seen as strong motivational factors. The relationship between perception and motivation is also explained in the laws of connectionism theory, namely the law of readiness and the law of effect.
Perception indicators of PPG are adopted from the perception process based on (Ivancevich et al., 2007), which consists of observation, selection, and translation. This perception process is then linked to the PPG program. Observations are made by learning and through other senses to obtain information, in this case, the information related to the PPG program. The selection is the process of focusing attention on an important, large, or intense stimulus. The next process is the translation, where an individual gives meaning or rationalizes the environment, objects, and events therein.
The indicators of motivation to participate in a PPG program are adopted from the definition of motivation according to Shaleh (2009) which defines motivation as everything that drives behavior that demands or encourages someone to fulfill needs, where at this point, motivation becomes the driving force of behavior (the energizer) as well as being a determinant of the behavior. According to Ivancevich et al. (2007), motivation is one type of response, where this response is a behavior that is raised after the process of perception. This means that motivation and perception have a relationship.
Hypothesis: Perception of PPG is positively associated with motivation to enroll in a PPG program.

METHODS
This research is causal associative research using a survey questionnaire. The population in this study were 382 active students of the Department of Economics Education, Universitas Negeri Semarang. The Department of Economics Education has three study programs, namely Accounting Education, Cooperative Education, and Office Administration Education. The population in this study was homogeneous because it had the same characteristics, namely students of Economics Education who are in the same semester (semester six) and had taken educational courses. Students' understanding of the teaching profession can be used to find out their perceptions about PPG and their motivation to take part in PPG.
The sampling technique used was a simple random sampling. The sample was selected by lottery in which the student's number was chosen as the sample. The number of samples from the population in this study was determined based on the table developed by Isaac and Michael (1995) for a 5% error rate, hence the final sample was 186 students.
This study used a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire is a direct questionnaire with closed answers and using the Likert scale. The data analysis techniques used percentage descriptive analysis and inferential statistical analysis. Inferential statistics were used to analyze the sample data. Furthermore, the inferential statistical analysis consists of regression prerequisite tests, including normality and linearity tests, simple linear regression analysis, hypothesis testing, namely the significance test (t-test), and the coefficient of determination (R2).

rESuLT AND DISCuSSION
Descriptive percentage analysis aims to describe the results of research instrument data from the perception variables on the PPG program and motivation to participate in the PPG program. The descriptive analysis shows that most students have the motivation to take the PPG program in the high category and perceptions about the PPG program are in the good category. Table 1 shows that 54% of students have the motivation to follow PPG, and 33% of students have doubtful motivation to join PPG. In more detail, it can be seen from each indicator that the motivation in joining professional education falls within the high category, motivation to take PPG SM3T in the doubt category, and motivation to become a professional teacher in the high category.
Furthermore, the processing of the perception variable on PPG can be seen in the Table 2. Table 2 shows that the majority of the student participants, as many as 72%, have good perceptions of PPG. In more detail, it can be seen from each indicator that the perception of PPG Program information falls within the doubtful category, the perception of PPG Program in the good category, the perception of PPG SM3T in the good category, the perception of the Regular PPG in the good category, the perception of the importance of PPG in the good category, perception of PPG objectives in the good category, perception of PPG conditions in the good category, perception of PPG costs in the average category, perceptions about PPG time also in the average category, perceptions about the achievements of the PPG program within the good category, and perceptions of teacher development in the average category.
The second analysis technique is inferential statistical analysis. Before a simple linear regression analysis is performed, the regression prerequisite tests have to be performed, namely the normality test and the linearity test. The normality test was done by looking at the output in the One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test table. The data is normally distributed if the significance value is> 0.05. The value of the K-S Statistical Tests was 0.068, with a significance probability value of 0.342. Significance probability value> 0.05, which means the data is normally distributed. Furthermore, the linearity test of research data was done by looking at the significant value on the ANOVA Table Linearity column. If the significance value <0.05, it indicates that there is a linear relationship between the variables X and Y. Based on the testing that had been done, the significance value obtained in the linearity line showed a value of 0.000 <0.05, so it can be concluded that between the perception variable of PPG and the motivation to take part in the PPG program, there was a linear relationship. Data has been tested for regression prerequisites, namely normality and linearity tests, and will then for simple linear regression.
Based on Table 3, the constant value for this regression equation is 12.887, and the coefficient of perception of PPG is 0.203. The simple linear regression equation has the meaning that if the perception variable about PPG is considered equal to zero, then the motivation variable to follow PPG in Economics Education students is 12.887. When the perception variable of PPG has increased by 1 point, it will cause the motivation to participate in PPG to increase by 0.203.  Table 3 revealed that the t-value of 7.864 was obtained with a significance of 0.000. A significant value of 0.000 is less than 0.05, the hypothesis stating there is an influence of perceptions about PPG on motivation to participate in the PPG. Hence, the hypothesis is supported.
Furthermore, to find out the magnitude of the effect of perception variables about PPG on motivation to follow PPG, the coefficient of determination test (R2 test) was conducted. Test results for the coefficient of determination are shown in Table 4.
The magnitude of the coefficient of determination (R2) shown in Table 2. R Square column is 0.252. This means that the effect of perception variables about PPG on motivation to participate in PPG is 25.2%, and the remaining 74.8% is influenced by other factors not examined in this study. The results showed that the effect of perceptions of PPG on motivation in taking part of the PPG for students of Economics Education. Based on the t-test, the perception variable about PPG has a significant effect on motivation to take part in the PPG program of Economics education students. In summary, the effect is positively associated. The magnitude of the effect of perception variables about PPG on motivation to participate in PPG is 25.2%.
The results of descriptive analysis of the percentage, which shows that the variable perception of PPG is in the good category with a percentage of 72%, show that most students of Economics Education have a good perception of the PPG program. Economics Education students support the PPG program and agree that professional education is needed for the teaching profession and is open to all educational bachelor graduates who have the talent and interest to become teachers. Students believe that PPG can produce professional teachers.
Based on the findings, Economics Education students consider that PPG-SM3T graduates are indeed eligible for a full PPG scholarship because they have been trained in teaching and serving in the 3T area. In addition, even though they claim they do not understand the PPG program very well, but most   (2017) of them consider that the PPG program is significantly important for Bachelor of Education students. They agreed that PPG would be able to improve their competency to become professional teachers and be able to develop the competencies of Indonesian teachers in general. Competencies that can be mastered by prospective teachers from taking part in the PPG include pedagogical competencies, social competencies, personality competencies, and professional competencies. These competencies can be obtained through learning in a PPG program for one year. Another point of findings also emphasizes that students expect more socialization of the PPG-SM3T program to be exposed across faculties within the university. In addition, they have a concern about paying a substantial amount of fees for a one-year study period. Furthermore, it showed that Economics Education students have their own perceptions regarding PPG. They provide an assessment of PPG based on what they know. Although most students have a good perception of PPG, some have a bad perception or are skeptical about the PPG program. Individual perceptions of an object will indeed be different in some people. As explained in the theory of connectionism that the stimulus will give the impression to the five senses, where the impression on each individual depends on the individual's interpreting process, in line with Nurdin (2011) who stated that a person's perception or judgment is influenced by the individual's insight.
Based on the results of the descriptive analysis of the percentage specifically on motivation, it showed that motivation has a high category with 54%. The student's response to the PPG as a motivation to enroll in a professional education program is in the high category. However, the motivation of students to take part in the PPG-SM3T is in the average category, and their motivation to become professional teachers is in the high category.
The results indicate that the majority of Economics Education students have high motivation to participate in the PPG program.
Besides that, the majority of the others are still hesitant to take part in the PPG. Based on the findings, the majority of Economics Education students have high motivation to attend professional education and to become professional teachers. They have solid objectives to take part in the PPG, such as obtaining professional educator certificates and other benefits (promotion) which will be useful for their future career. As prospective teachers, they have a strong commitment to become professional teachers. They claim to continue their learning opportunities and the PPG sufficiently increases their motivation to become professional teachers.
The results of this study are in line with a prior study conducted by Setyowati (2016), which found that the motivation of students of Economics Education, Faculty of Economics, Yogyakarta State University was in the high category of 52 respondents (31.51%). This is also in line with the findings reported by Martya (2015) which provides evidence that students' perceptions of the PPG program have a positive and significant effect on their motivation to become a teacher. Furthermore, research conducted by Larasati and Suyato (2016) explained that there was a positive and significant influence on students' perceptions of teacher professionalism and motivation to become professional teachers.
The results of this study are also in line with the theory of connectionism, which explains that a response caused by a stimulus is different for everyone (Snelbecker, 1974). In this study, we focus on the type of response in the form of motivation as a result of perceptions of the PPG. Stimuli received by individuals through their five senses will produce perceptions of these individuals. Then the individual's perception of something will produce a unique response depending on how the individual interprets the stimulus.

CONCLuSION
Professional development program for pre-service teacher (PPG-SM3T) program in the frontier, outmost and least developed regions in Indonesia generally contribute to students' positive perceptions of professional development programs. Based on the findings, it showed that students' perception of PPG has a positive and significant effect on their motivation to enroll PPG specifically at UNNES. The degree of student motivation in enrolling in a PPG is within the high category. Our research raises opportunities for future research. For example, future research could examine the curriculum of PPG such as the supervision mechanism, the content of the workshop, and the procedure of microteaching. In addition, future studies could examine the availability of scholarship specifically for regular PPG as a motivation aspect for students to participate in the teacher professional development program.