HOMESCHOOLING: A FORMULA FOR ESTABLISHING ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN REMOTE COMMUNITIES IN INDONESIA

The disparity in the equality of education in Indonesia, especially in backwoods areas, is one of the problems of education in Indonesia. One of the Government's action in overcoming this gap is by distributing teachers to remote areas of the country. In addition, the government also stipulates several laws and regulations as the formal legality of education in backwoods communities. This study aims to explore the possibility of implementing the homeschool education model (homeschooling) for backwoods communities, as an effort to applied Islamic subject matter and prevail education in Indonesia. This study uses a naturalistic phenomenological approach, using triangulation as one of the data analyzes. The research location is in Hansibong, a backwoods hamlet in the Sojol mountains of ParigiMoutong district, Central Sulawesi. The results of this study found that education in Hansibong is carried out informally within the family. Learning process is held in a traditional way, using very minimal of media, methods and subject matter. The material taught is limited to morality values, reading and writing, arithmetic and the ability to survive in nature. Islamic education in its function as a strengthening of cognitive intelegence, morals, spirituality and nationality has not been provided in learning at home. As a research implication, a homeschooling socialization effort is needed so that the student community can continue to a higher level. The implementation of homeschooling that is not in accordance with the technical guidelines issued by the government will only disserve students because learning outcomes cannot be equalized with existing education levels.

An Exploration of Active Listening Skills in Medical Doctors

An exploratory study was conducted to assess the active listening skills of medical doctors working in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. One hundred and fifty three medical doctors were included in the study. Self perception of their active listening skills was first recorded, followed by a standard listening skills test developed by Kentucky University. After the test, the participants were exposed to a listening skills workshop developed by the Nanzan University, Japan, and retested by the Kentucky Comprehensive Listening Test. The data were collected and analysed. The results revealed that 68.0% of medical doctors had a high level of self perception. The actual scores in the pre intervention listening skills test showed 56.9% of the medical doctors to possess high listening skills. After the listening skills workshop, the number of medical doctors having high level of listening skills rose to 59.5%. A strong association was found between self perception and ethnicity and type of practice of the medical doctors. Similarly strong association was witnessed between the actual active listening of medical doctors and many of the independent variables. The Short Term Listening improved from 59.5% to 62.7%, and Short Term Listening with Rehearsal from 56.9% to 63.4% after the intervention. However, Short Term Listening with Distraction decreased from 55.6% to 51.6%, and Listening with Comprehension from 58.8% to 55.6% in the post intervention case. Strong association was visible between the components of listening test and the many of the independent variables. In light of the findings of the study, it is recommended that medical doctors need to improve their communication skills especially active listening skills. This requires incorporation of active listening skills training in their curriculum.