Murniwati participated in Master Teacher training in March 2025, an experience that reshaped how she viewed teaching and learning. Since 2010, she had been teaching at an elementary school in Nias Utara, Sumatera Utara. In these 15 years, this was the first time she had ever received such capacity development training.
“The challenges I faced in teaching before were mainly due to my limited capacity and understanding of how to design fun and engaging lessons for students with diverse backgrounds. I also didn’t really understand and had never heard of the term ‘foundational skills’ in students”, she said.
Her opportunity for change came through a new initiative aimed at transforming how teachers are trained in Indonesia.
The KREASI Program is a strategic initiative of the Government of Indonesia, supported by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) through the Multiplier Grant. The program focuses on early childhood and primary education, aiming to improve foundational skills and strengthen child protection efforts.
Everything started to shift when Murniwati was selected to become a Master Teacher as part of the Teacher Professional Development cycle under the KREASI program by Save the Children Indonesia. The program is implemented in collaboration with Article 33 and Local Education Ecosystem, aiming to improve the quality of education. This training marked the first step in a comprehensive process designed to strengthen teachers’ capacity to deliver foundational skills in literacy and numeracy.
Before the training, Murniwati often felt overwhelmed when managing her class. But things began to change after joining Master Teacher training. Before facilitating and sharing the training outcomes in the KKG (Teacher Working Group), she did a lot of preparation, such as studying the materials, preparing presentation slides, games, evaluation tools, and even practicing in front of the mirror to speak like a facilitator.
On the first day of facilitating at the KKG, she felt very nervous. But by the second day, she was more excited and confident in delivering the material and managing the class. The other teachers who joined the training were also supportive and enthusiastic, which helped a lot.
“This program didn’t just improve the quality of education. It also helped shape me personally to become a better educator. With this program, I hope more teachers can be inspired and bring positive change to education in their own areas. I also hope this program can reach students directly. Because until now, teachers here didn’t really know how to understand each child’s abilities, and in Nias Utara, we’ve never even heard of the term ‘Differentiated Learning’ before,” Murniwati added.
Author: Murniwati (Elementary School Teacher in Nias Utara)
Editor & Translator: Laras Sabila Putri (KREASI Communication and Media Manager) & Andika Ramadhan (KREASI Communication and Media Support)
Picture: Ekali Frida Lumbantoruan (KREASI District Representative for Nias Utara)