Teacher's Guidebook: Promising Solutions to the Challenges of Vocational and Language Learning in Vocational High Schools

Teacher competence is the spearhead of educational success in vocational schools. This study aims to analyze the difficulties experienced by Vocational High School (VHS) teachers in implementing learning, analyze the difficulties faced by language subject teachers in adjusting to the concentration of expertise in VHS, and formulate the concept of the content of the Teacher's Handbook in overcoming the difficulties of VHS teachers. The research used qualitative methods with a constructive paradigm. The research involved teachers, principals, and students in 4 vocational schools as well as television experts and education offices in Yogyakarta and South Kalimantan. The results showed that the difficulties faced by teachers in implementing learning were caused by several factors, namely inappropriate educational background, lack of technical/practical skills, limited learning facilities, difficulties in teaching soft skills, and low reading literacy of teachers. In particular, language teachers find it difficult to contextualize language lessons with the concentration of expertise in VHS. A teacher's guidebook can be a solution to overcome these difficulties. The concept of the teacher's guidebook that teachers need includes: how to analyze the curriculum (Learning Outcomes) into Learning Objectives; provide a choice of learning models that inspire teachers; present the implementation of concepts and real cases in the industrial world; inspire teachers in contextualizing language lessons; and the presentation of book content that is designed variably in the form of: text, images, infographics, and external links, so as to increase teacher interest and motivation in reading and improving their competence.