This is an exploratory study which focuses on exploring teacher perceptions on the impact of
professional development (PD) programmes aimed at promoting Classroom Action Research
(CAR) that teachers followed in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Indonesian government by means of
its education reform policy has been taking measures in promoting CAR to teachers as a way
of improving its teacher quality, having one of its measures organising PD programmes about
CAR for teachers and providing guidelines for PD programme providers. However, difficulties
arise in the implementation as my research found that the quality of PD programmes available
to teachers has been poor and without any evaluation process. While it is acknowledged that
PD programmes need to be evaluated to ascertain the quality as well as to assess its impact on
teachers as the participants, research on the impact of PD programmes that is specifically about
CAR is fragmented and an integrated view on such evaluation is still missing.

My literature review of this study reveals a gap in the existing frameworks for the evaluation
of PD programmes specifically about CAR, resulting in the development of the conceptual
framework. This framework suggests four research questions in this study, focusing on four
levels of impact on PD programmes: teacher experience, teacher learning, teachers’ change in
practice and influencing factors. This study tries to answer the research questions by applying
a multiple-case study design in three different groups of teachers as participants of three PD
programmes about CAR in Jakarta, Indonesia. The data were generated over a period of three
months through an observation of all three programmes; a survey of one hundred teachers;
interviews with the three programme providers, eleven heads of schools and sixteen teachers;
and document analyses. This study demonstrates how the conceptual framework was
deductively discussed through the application of case studies and inductively extended through
the findings of teachers’ perceptions on the impact of the PD programmes about CAR.
The result of the study generates an extended evaluation framework having all four levels of
impact in the conceptual framework thoroughly elaborated and expanded in detail. First, there
are eight main features of the programme which are highlighted to be effective in the discussion
of teacher experience on the programme. For example, the features ‘sustained duration’ and
‘quality of mentor’ are revealed to be effective in helping teachers during the implementation
of CAR. Second, the discussion highlights nine specific knowledge and skills in conducting
CAR and three specific attitudes towards CAR as the impact of the PD programmes on teacher
learning. For example, the findings reveal that several teachers were able to reflect on their
previous CAR cycle and to trust the importance of CAR after following the programme. Third,
there are three kinds of change in classroom practice, two kinds of change in personal level and
two kinds of change in interpersonal level which are highlighted as the impact of the PD
programmes on teachers’ change in practice. For instance, the findings reveal that a teacher
had strong will in using CAR and, consequently, sought more effective teaching method and
shared the result with the others. At last, the findings highlight the importance of teacher
characteristics as well as organisational support in hindering or helping the impact accounted
for as influencing factors. For instance, the characteristic of open-minded and progressive
heads of schools provides support for teachers in conducting CAR. On the other hand, the
characteristic of a new teacher lacking professional experience and motivation in following the
programme limited his expectations of the programme, and, consequently, the implementation
of CAR