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807

JoSS :

Journal of Social Science

OPTIMIZING VOCATIONAL CIVIC EDUCATION FOR THE

DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENT CHARACTER

Yudha Pradana

, Dadang Sundawa

Politeknik Negeri Media Kreatif, Indonesia

, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia

Email : yudha.pradana@polimedia.ac.id

, dadangsund[email protected]

KEYWORDS

Character,

Character

Education, Civic

Education,

Vocational Civics,

Vocational Higher

Education

ABSTRACT

In terms of being students, civic education is very closely related to the

development of the character of citizens. In this case, vocational civics can

also be developed and given to vocational higher education students. This

research aims to find out about civics learning in vocational universities and

the character development of students through vocational civics learning.

The method carried out is research and development with the ADDIE

model. The results showed that learning was carried out contextually and

cooperatively with a project-based learning approach supported by 21st-

century skills. Learning develops citizen competencies in the form of

knowledge, disposition, and skills. The character of students is developed

in the forms of critical thinking, creativity, discipline, appreciation of work,

and curiosity. In addition, with the vocational education approach, the

aspects developed in vocational civics are communication skills, critical and

creative thinking, information literacy, digital literacy, inquiry skills,

interpersonal skills, multicultural literacy, problem-solving, and technology

skills. Meanwhile, support in the form of 21st-century skills is shown

through communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.

INTRODUCTION

Education is very closely related to the development of values and character. This is in

line with the general objectives of implementing education, which can be implemented through

formal learning in classrooms. However, the implementation of this learning is sometimes

interpreted too narrowly in terms of knowledge transfer and is often neglected regarding the

development of student values and character. Whereas learning should be able to develop the

full potential of students, including knowledge, attitudes, and skills. One effort that can be

maximized in developing students' potential in learning as well as developing student values

and character is through learning civic education.

Civic education is conceptually and empirically very close to developing the character of

citizens. Civic education is taught in the context of developing good and intelligent citizens,

with the goal of producing quality citizen participation in state life. This is also the case with

the provision of civic education in tertiary institutions. The implementation of Civic education

in tertiary institutions is based on the fact that every generation is a new person who must

acquire knowledge, attitudes, values, and skills in order to be able to develop citizens who have

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good character and are smart (smart and good citizens) to live in society, nation, and state in

accordance with constitutional democracy (Schreiber et al., 2016). This framework can be

linked to the construction of student character development through civics education.

In addition, the implementation of higher education in Indonesia cannot be separated

from character education. Implementation of higher education refers to Law Number 12 of

2012 concerning higher education, which aims to develop the potential of students to become

human beings who believe in and fear God Almighty and are noble, healthy, knowledgeable,

capable, creative, independent, skilled, competent, and cultured for the benefit of the nation.

On the other hand, in relation to student character development, civic education courses in

tertiary institutions can be used as personality development courses. The personality

development course is a values education program that is carried out through the learning

process in tertiary institutions and functions as a model for developing student identity and

personality (Widisuseno, 2006).

Citizenship education, as a multidimensional vehicle for character education, carries the

full vision and mission of developing civic competencies, which include civic knowledge, civic

dispositions, civic skills, civic competence, civic confidence, and civic commitment, and leads

to integrative abilities and well-informed and reasoned decision-making in a coherent and

coherent way (Winangun, 2017). In this context, the implementation of civic education in

tertiary institutions related to character education can be used as a means to accommodate this

goal. As a result, civics learning will be meaningful in terms of meeting learning objectives,

empirically conceptualizing civics in tertiary institutions, and fulfilling the impact of

accompaniment for students gained through learning.

The development of student character in civic education learning must, of course, be

carried out to provide meaningful learning in addition to achieving the learning objectives that

have been set. Meaningfulness in civic education learning explains how students' knowledge,

experience, and skills gained from civic education courses have an impact on strengthening

their understanding of the meaningfulness of science and improving the quality of people's

lives (Jatnika et al., 2019). In this regard, learning is carried out using factual and contextual

issues, which are then presented in classroom learning.

Regarding the implementation of civic education in relation to student character

development, apart from theoretical studies, it was also found through the empirical experience

of previous researchers. Cultivating character for students, especially because Pancasila is the

basis of the state and national ideology, which has the core of divine values, human values,

values of unity, social values, and values of justice, is considered appropriate if used as a basis

for building student character (Supriyono et al., 2014). Character development in learning can

really contribute to the development of national character, namely curriculum content and

instructional strategies, civic education classrooms, and learning environments (Sulistyarini,

2015).

The implementation of civic education in general in higher education can also be carried

out in the implementation of vocational higher education. Civic education learning is

intertwined and very contextual with the development of student skills within the vocational

education framework. As is known, in general, vocational education is related to competency-

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based learners, and in this context, students develop competencies. Competency-based is, of

course, related to the implementation of civics both conceptually and practically. However, it

seems that the urgency of the things above encounters several obstacles, including the

assumption that civic education learning is monotonous and does not provide a meaningful

accompaniment effect, and that civic education learning is often considered an afterthought for

the mere sake of fulfilling the curriculum.

To overcome the practical errors found above, civic education learning must be

strengthened, especially in relation to it as a means of developing citizen character. Therefore,

this strengthening can be carried out through a vocational civics framework, where

implementation is not only to achieve civics learning objectives but also to accommodate the

development of vocational competencies for students according to their skills and knowledge.

Carter Van Good mentions vocational civics as: 1) the study of occupational problems in

relation to general welfare; and 2) the study of civics based on the consideration and selection

of a pupil's lifework (Azis Wahab, n.d.). It seems that civic education is intertwined with the

vocational development of citizens in relation to the development of national and state life.

Citizens should have vocational skills that can help them make ends meet and participate in

various community activities effectively for the progress and welfare of the people in their

environment (Wahab, n.d.).

Based on the background explanation above, the authors are interested in conducting

research on the implementation of civics in the context of developing the character of

vocational tertiary students. This is also to provide an overview of the implementation of

vocational civic education in tertiary institutions. The following are the problem

formulations:1. How is vocational civics learning carried out in vocational tertiary institutions?

2. What are the student characters that can be developed through vocational civics learning?

The objectives to be achieved are to find out about civics learning in vocational tertiary

institutions and the character development of students through vocational civics learning.

METHOD RESEARCH

The method used in this research is research and development. Research and

development is a research method used to produce certain products and test the effectiveness

of these products (Sugiyono, 2009). This method was chosen because the author tries to reveal

a problem in order to find a solution in the form of developing a product, in this case the

development of a learning model in vocational civics for students. while the research and

development model used is ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and

Evaluation). The ADDIE model is one of the most commonly used models in the field of

instructional design to produce effective designs that consist of important components in the

instructional design process.(Aldoobie, 2015).

The ADDIE stages will be carried out during the research. The analysis phase is carried

out to find out what is needed in designing learning to develop student character through

vocational civics. In this stage, the author discusses with fellow civic education teachers to

know the implementation of the learning that has been carried out, along with the obstacles that

occur and the opportunities for development. The design stage is carried out by designing the

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learning that will be carried out, starting from learning planning to learning measurement. The

development stage is carried out by developing learning through materials, media, and learning

resources. The implementation stage is where learning is carried out in accordance with the

objectives that have been set.

To support this method, data collection was carried out through interviews with civic

education teaching colleagues and civics practitioners to find out how learning is implemented

as a vocational civics implementation, as well as through questionnaires given to student

learning participants to measure the character development carried out. With the data collection

carried out, it is hoped that there will be optimization of research implementation in accordance

with the research objectives that have been previously set.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Implementation of Vocational Civics Learning

Student character development through vocational civics is carried out at the Creative

Media State Polytechnic (Polimedia). Polimedia is a vocational college in the diploma program

with the main competency in the creative industry sector. Student vocational development is

tailored to Indonesia's creative industries such as culinary, fashion, crafts, TV and radio,

publishing, architecture, application and game developers, advertising, music, photography,

film, animation, video, performing arts, product design, fine arts, interior design, and visual

communication design. In this case, research on vocational civics learning is carried out in the

study program of advertising, graphic design, and multimedia engineering technology. The

skills developed in learning are communication, design, and multimedia engineering.

The analysis phase begins with preparing what is needed in vocational civics learning by

interviewing three lecturer colleagues and confirming two civics learning practitioners outside

the Polimedia campus, where there is more focused discussion. The initial stage is in the form

of an analysis of learning needs that are adapted to the characteristics of vocational education,

as well as an analysis of the various obstacles to civic learning and opportunities for

implementing civic learning that can be developed through research. The results of the analysis

show that the main obstacle to learning is caused by the motivation to study civics, which is

relatively minimal considering the assumptions of students who consider civics only a general

subject. In addition, the lack of reinforcement for the development of teaching materials can

also be said to be an obstacle to the implementation of civics learning. Therefore, in the analysis

stage, it was determined that civics learning must be strengthened so that it is linear with the

implementation of vocational education.

The main objective of vocational education is direct preparation for work, which is

supported by technological competencies in the form of technological awareness, technological

literacy, technological capability, technological innovation, and technological criticism

(Pavlova et al., 2009). Competencies developed through vocational education include: 1.

communication skills; 2. critical and creative thinking; 3. information and digital literacy; 4.

inquiry and reasoning skills; 5. interpersonal skills; 6. multicultural and multilingual literacy;

7. problem solving; and 8. technological skills (Winangun, 2017). On the basis of this opinion,

vocational civics learning is strengthened in the use of information technology to provide

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reinforcement in learning as well as to achieve the research objectives to be achieved and to

develop vocational education. In addition, vocational education is intertwined with vocational

education competencies, especially those that lead to citizen skills, especially communication

skills, critical and creative thinking, inquiry skills, interpersonal relations, multicultural

literacy, and problem solving supported by digital-related skills such as digital literacy and

usage technology skills. This competence is in accordance with the spirit of forming smart and

good citizens, which is realized through civics.

The activities of carrying out the learning designs that will be carried out indicate the

design stage in this research. Learning will be done contextually, cooperatively, and project-

based. Contextual learning means learning according to the real-life context of students, and

cooperative learning means developing learning in groups. Civics learning is oriented to the

concept of contextualized multiple intelligences, opens views on the need for handling learning

that is more creative, active-participatory, explores and develops students' abilities according

to their potential or original intelligence, and is meaningful and fun (Komalasari, 2011).

Project-based learning is dynamic learning where students actively explore real-world

problems, provide challenges, and acquire deeper knowledge (Lucas, 2005).

Vocational Civics Learning Design that is carried out by promoting citizenship

campaigns This model is expected to be a means of building student character as well as

disseminating student ideas and working through campaigns related to the problems studied in

learning. The citizenship campaign that will be developed will be linked to student skills,

especially in the fields of design and communication, by utilizing digital media. The campaign

that was carried out was also a means of persuasively conveying messages in the study of social

issues presented in the lesson. Civics courses with democracy material are used to teach

students.

The development stage is carried out in accordance with a predetermined learning design.

The development of learning is adapted to the dynamics of learning needs learning design. The

development of learning is adapted to the dynamics of learning needs. The implementation

stage is where learning is carried out in accordance with predetermined research objectives.

Student character development through vocational civic education takes place in the context of

contextual and cooperative learning. Group learning with the aim of developing interaction

skills in groups so that interpersonal skills emerge and the ability to understand other people's

ideas in the context of respecting and appreciating opinions that may differ. Students are given

the freedom to define heterogeneous groups and choose existing problems. The problem is

adapted to the material, namely regarding democracy. Students examine the meaning and

essence of democracy, examine the implementation of democratic values, examine cases of

violations of democracy, and present solutions to overcome cases of violations of democracy.

Cases are obtained factually and objectively through information tracking via digital media.

The results of student work in learning are in the form of videos. The video contains case

analysis and invitations or campaigns to strengthen the implementation of democracy. The

video is presented as a form of using digital media for learning. Video scenarios are released

according to student creativity. The contextualization is related to the citizenship campaign.

Citizenship campaigns can develop metacognition abilities in addition to factual, conceptual,

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and procedural understanding (Saepudin & Jatnika, 2019). In this context, apart from

implementing the concept of vocational civic education, learning also supports the

implementation of 21st-century skills. The main role of education is to prepare future workers

and citizens to face the challenges of their time; therefore, education is the key to economic

survival in the 21st century with competence in learning and innovation skills, information,

media, and technology skills, as well as life and career skills (Trilling & Fadel, 2009).

The following is how the citizenship campaign model is implemented in project-based

learning: 1) forming heterogeneous groups, 2) students sort and select problems, and 3)

students examine these problems using various information media. 4) Students make decisions

in the form of proposing solutions; 5) Students create works using a variety of digital media;

and 6) Students present their work as well as present ideas using a variety of digital media.

Through this learning, it is hoped that it can accommodate typical learning in the vocational

realm as well as developing student character.

CONCLUSION

Civic education learning is related to the implementation of vocational education, which

is realized through vocational civics. In addition, in its implementation, vocational civics can

be used as a means of developing student character. These characters are critical thinkers,

creative, disciplined, appreciative of work, and curious. Learning is carried out contextually,

cooperatively, and project-based within the framework of a citizenship campaign. In addition,

learning supports the development of 21st century skills characterized by communication,

collaboration, and creative and critical thinking.

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Yudha Pradana, Dadang Sundawa (2023).

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