WRITING SCIENTIFIC PAPERS: EXPLORING THE DIFFICULTIES OF MADRASAH TEACHERS IN INDONESIA.

Teachers as professionals play an essential role in the 21st Century in achieving the vision of national education. Teachers in the 21st Century must continue to improve their academic responsibilities, including writing scientific papers. However, the fact is that teacher activities are still focused on teaching and neglect scientific writing. Therefore, there must be an effort to explore their difficulties in writing. For this reason, this descriptive qualitative research aims to explore the difficulties of teachers in writing scientific papers identified through training activities. The research subjects were teachers of Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 2 Manggarai Ruteng, Indonesia (n=20). We followed a method of using a data collection process that includes document analysis, participatory observation, and focus group discussions. As a result of our research, we mapped the difficulties of teachers. Ongoing training, adding to the library collection, controlling and monitoring the implementation of Madrasah teacher working groups' activities, and mentoring experts need to be considered to support Madrasah teachers' professionalism. This finding has implications for applying a managerial reward and punishment pattern to increase teachers' motivation and interest in writing scientific papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]