Economics Teachers Perception on Asean Economic Community and
the Implication toward the Teaching of Economics
Sri Umi Mintarti W, Agung Haryono, Imam Mukhlis, Nasikh Nasikh, Roufah Inayati and Ali Wafa
Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Malang Jl. Semarang No.5, Malang, Jawa Timur, Indonesia
Keywords: Economic Community, Economic Integration, Asean Economics Teaching.
Abstract: This study attempts at exploring economics teachers’ perception on the realization of Asean Economic
Community (AEC) in Indonesia and identifying its implications toward the teaching of economics in high
school level. Economics teachers of high school level in Jombang, East Java, Indonesia, participated as the
subject of this study in 2016. Quota sampling technique was employed to choose the samples of this study in
which there were 17 teachers chosen as the informants. The data were collected through in-depth interviews
and observations. The obtained data were then analyzed using descriptive method. The result of this study
shows that Economics teachers perceived AEC as a great opportunity and a challenging threat as well. As the
implication, teachers insert AEC into teaching materials presented in the form of concrete examples of local
product sold in international trading. Based on the result and discussion of this study, it is suggested that
teachers develop and add AEC issue into teaching materials and activity by implementing cooperative
teaching method and empathizing the importance of appreciating local products.
1 INTRODUCTION
Globalization is something that is inevitable in
today’s social life (Nicolescu, 2015). The
development of social, economy, and politics in any
countries always follow globalization (Keohane and
Nye, 2000; Dreher, 2006). According to Nicolescu,
(2015), globalization affects the mind-set of the new
generations, knowledge acceleration and the
development of culture. The new era has brought
major changes in the relationship among nations in
many aspects. Within the context of economy,
globalization brings consequences related to the
mobilization of economic sources and the mobility of
various trading commodity in ASEAN countries. As
the anticipation of any negative possibilities, ASEAN
countries are united as an organization that conducts
special coordination in the economic aspect. The
organization provides facilities to solve problems
which appear as the effects of the world’s economic
liberalization. The organization is called Asean
Economic Community (AEC). Asean countries held
economic cooperation to enhance their products to
have higher competitiveness in the international
trading. As stated by the International Labour
Organization and the Asian Development Bank
(2014), the realization of Asean Economic
Community is able to create strong market and
production base for people of Asean countries.
AEC is expected to support ASEAN countries for
more intensive interaction within the context of
nations’ economy. This interaction is a starting point
to solve various problems related to inability to
provide enough amount of commodity (goods and
services) as well as problems related to price gap of
the commodity sold in ASEAN market. AEC is also
expected to stimulate economic integration which
gives positive benefits for the member of the AEC.
Economic integration leads to market unity and
enhances better product quality to compete in
ASEAN market. Besides, economic integration also
strengthen the flow of the capital. Economic
development in ASEAN is expected to improve
through economic activities in the form of intra
ASEAN trading and intra ASEAN capital flow. The
basic principles of AEC is to create strong market,
innovative environment, balanced nation
development, and total economic integration among
ASEAN nations (www.asean.org).
Indonesia holds a strategic role in the
implementation of AEC for Indonesia has the highest
656
W, S., Haryono, A., Mukhlis, I., Nasikh, N., Inayati, R. and Wafa, A.
Economics Teachers Perception on Asean Economic Community and the Implication toward the Teaching of Economics.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (ICEEE 2017), pages 656-661
ISBN: 978-989-758-308-7
Copyright © 2017 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

number of residence and the largest area, making
Indonesia a key player for the success of the AEC in
Asean countries. On the other hand, Indonesia is also
facing complex and serious intern problems related to
its domestic economy. The problem includes high
number of unemployment, poverty, and high
economic and social gap. AEC might give negative
effect toward the national economy if the government
does not take constructive anticipation programs. As
the implication, Indonesia has to construct some
strategic plans to make sure that AEC give positive
effect toward the national development. The result of
a study conducted by Taty (2016) shows that the
position of Indonesia in the constellation of human
capital in ASEAN is considered low. Indonesia still
suffers from various weaknesses such as lack of
expertise, low education, inadequate facilities, low
competitiveness, unemployment, imbalance salaries,
and low productivity.
Possible problems and the benefits of AEC in
Indonesia should be thoroughly understood. Precise
understanding of AEC shapes a positive expectation
that AEC gives positive effect toward the economy of
the members. In order to sharpen people’s
understanding on AEC in Indonesia, government
should consider the big role of teachers in classroom
teaching and learning. This can be done by
constructing a curriculum which puts AEC issue as
one of the materials. Teachers may also show
concrete examples on the effect of AEC toward
economic activities in the low-end business sector. In
addition, teachers should also implement teaching
strategies that enhance students’ understanding on the
effect of AEC in their life.
High school level appears to be the most
appropriate level to become the object of AEC
socialization. The current curriculum of high school
contains a material on international economic
partnership. AEC is a representation of economic
activities within Asean regional that involves
interaction among nations. Students of high school
are mature enough and able to think rationally that let
them understand the material on AEC easily.
High schools in East Java Province, Indonesia are
quite heterogeneous. This heterogeneity appears as
the effect of the implementation of the 2013
curriculum and the consideration of local wisdom at
the same time. Within the context of economics
teaching, the delivery of materials can be adjusted to
the local wisdom. Examples can be taken from the
real economic activities in the local area. Jombang
district is a district in East Java province that is well
known as “kota santri” or Islamic student city for
there are quite big number of Islamic boarding
schools in Jombang, making Jombang the center of
Islamic studies in Indonesia and in the world. This
fact affects the characteristic of the people especially
the students in understanding theories of economics.
Besides, this phenomena also affects their economic
behavior as the effect of the AEC realization.
In the context of economics teaching, the role of
economics teachers in the socialization of AEC is
quite crucial. The curriculum has insert teaching
material on AEC, which makes it easier for the
teachers to create innovations to make the teaching
and learning about AEC more interesting and
comprehensible for the students. The material can be
delivered through the use of dynamic teaching
method that drives students to be more active and
creative as individuals or as a group. In this case,
teachers are demanded to not only deliver the
materials contained in the 2013 curriculum, but they
are also required to develop teaching media which are
able to accommodate the substances of the materials
on the economic integration of Asean countries in the
form of Asean Economic Community.
Based on those explanation, this study aimed at
exploring high school economics teachers’
perception on the implementation of AEC 2016 in
Indonesia as well as to look into how they design
teaching and learning activities of materials related to
AEC in Indonesia.
2 METHODS
We strongly encourage authors to use this document
this study is an explorative study that explored
various characteristics and phenomena that occurred
around the subject which is being studied. This study
took place in Jombang District, East Java Province,
Indonesia, involving high school economics teachers.
The sampling was done using quota sampling method
considering the fact that there were a total of 17
economics teachers in the area. Thus, all the
researchers involved all of them to participate as the
subjects of this study. The data of this study were
obtained from the respondents which were collected
by conducting in-depth interviews and observation.
In-depth interviews were administered by personally
questioning the respondents using a set of interview
instrument. Meanwhile, observations were done by
observing the facts and phenomena related to
students’ behaviors and teachers’ responses in
delivering teaching materials on economics. Besides,
observations were also done to analyze documents
and archives related to the teaching of economics
conducted by the teachers. The validity of the data
Economics Teachers Perception on Asean Economic Community and the Implication toward the Teaching of Economics
657

was confirmed by prolonging the time and
triangulation. The obtained data were then analyzed
descriptively by explaining various obtained
information to get clear and complete picture of the
object.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Opportunities and Threats of AEC
Implementation in Indonesia
The questionnaires distributed to the respondents
obtained this following data.
Table 1: Teachers’ perception on AEC.
Indicator
Result
Opportunity
1
Threat
1
Opportunity and Threat
15
Sum
17
Source: Questionnaires, 2016
Economics teachers perceived AEC as an
opportunity and threat to the economy of Indonesia.
Out of 17 informants, 15 of them believed AEC is an
opportunity and a threat as well for the economy of
Indonesia. The opportunity and threat may occur in
various aspects. From the result of the study, the
benefit of AEC for Indonesia is it enhances the
economic growth of Indonesia. This occurs because
AEC opens wider market of goods and service,
market of production and broader scope of
employment. AEC demands the producers to improve
the quality of their products to be able to compete in
the international market, and AEC also stimulates
international-level partnership.
It has been confirmed in this study that economics
teachers see AEC as an opportunity and threat for
Indonesia. The implementation of ARC might cause
changes on the trading pattern and the mobility of
production factors as well as changes on the flow of
goods and service in the international economic
activities of Asean countries. As stated by some
experts, AEC might appear as an opportunity and
threat in the forms of:
 AEC gives chances for local industries to
introduce their products in international market.
Yet, they also have to compete with products
from other countries.
 AEC motivates producers to create products
with relatively low and competitive price. Yet,
to be able to compete with those from other
countries, they are also required to maintain the
best quality.
 Indonesia has the chance to export the products
at higher amount which becomes devised for
Indonesia. On the other hand, Indonesia should
also guarantee the quality of the exported
products.
 AEC expands the marketplace which is open for
anyone to compete. At the same time, Indonesia
has to anticipate this phenomena as a threat
since there will be high number of products from
other countries are sold in Indonesia.
 For creative businessman, AEC appears as a
challenge for them to improve their capability
and their enterprises, yet for those who have low
creativity, AEC becomes a threat since they tend
to be more consumptive that will affect
negatively to the economy of Indonesia.
 It is clear that AEC expands the marketplace
which also improves the rate of export and
devised. However, this also becomes a threat for
Indonesia considering the fact that there are still
high number of workers with low education,
low-quality products, and high number of
unemployment.
 AEC opens up broader job availability. Yet,
Indonesia has to deal with the high number of
foreign workers coming to get jobs in Indonesia.
In the conclusion, teachers re-explained about the
opportunities and threats that will be faced by
Indonesia. Seen as an opportunity, teachers tend to
explore the potencies of Indonesia to prepare for
AEC. This exploration focuses on enhancing creative
activities that support students’ and people’s
productivity. Meanwhile, seen as a threat, teachers
tend to focuses more on the weakness and lacks of
Indonesia to face AEC. With the highest number of
population, Indonesia is seen as the biggest market in
Asean. Considering AEC as an opportunity and a
threat at the same time, teachers tend to be more
careful in exploring the strengths and weaknesses to
face AEC in order to provide more comprehensible
picture about AEC for the students.
3.2 Readiness to Face AEC
AEC implementation requires community
preparedness. This readiness is related to both
regulatory, metal and economic preparations for AEC
to contribute positively to regional or national
economic development. Here is the opinion of the
ICEEE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Economic Education and Entrepreneurship
658

economic teachers about the readiness of Indonesia in
the AEC game.
AEC demands readiness from the people. In
facing AEC, people has to be ready in the terms of
regulation, mentality, and local economy in order to
get the best benefit from AEC program for the
development of national and local economy. Table 2
presents the opinions from economics teachers on the
readiness of Indonesia in facing AEC.
Table 2. Readiness in facing AEC.
Behavioral Indicators
Respondents
A. Ready
6
B. Not ready
11
Sum
17
Source: Questionnaires, 2016
The result of the questionnaires shows that
economics teachers considered Indonesia not yet
completely ready for AEC. Out of 17 respondents,
only 6 of them considered Indonesia ready for AEC.
This result implies that the capability of Indonesia is
not yet strong enough compared to other Asean
countries in facing AEC. Indonesia needs time to get
ready before actively participating in AEC to take the
most benefit of this program.
Some teachers provided their reasons as shown in
Table 3.
Table 3. Reasons on the readiness of Indonesia in facing
AEC.
Indicators
Result
A. Massive amount of natural resources
4
B. High quality of human resources
4
C. High productivity potency
3
D. High competitiveness
1
E. Good mastery of information and
technology
1
F. Readiness of local business
1
Source: Questionnaires, 2016
Based on those data, it can be implied that
informants considered Indonesia ready for AEC for
Indonesia has quite massive potency of natural and
human resources. Natural resources and human
resources are the key factors to the success of
Indonesia in AEC. Therefore, government should
conduct various programs to strengthen the capability
of those two resources.
Table 4: Reasons on the unreadiness of Indonesia for AEC.
Indicator
Result
A. Low quality of human resources
9
B. The bureaucracy is not supportive
8
C. Low productivity potency
7
D. Low product competitiveness
6
E. Indonesians are mostly highly
consumptive
2
F. Indonesians have low entrepreneurship
character
1
G. Indonesians have low commitment in
working
1
H. Indonesians have low creativity
1
I. Poor management of natural resources
1
J. Low loyalty to local products
2
K. High number of unemployment
1
Source: Questionnaires, 2016
Based on this result, it can be implied that the key
factors to the unreadiness of Indonesia for AEC are
the low quality of human resource and the
bureaucracy that is not supportive. It is still
controversy whether or not the human resources of
Indonesia ready for AEC.
3.3 The Teaching of Economics in the
Era of AEC in Indonesia
The teaching of economics in AEC era should be
modified in certain way considering the ever-
changing business environment presently.
Modifications should be made as the responses to the
shift of human behavior in fulfilling their needs. AEC
is seen an era of openness and liberty in conducting
any regional-scale economic activity. People are
given broader marketplace that also requires some
efforts as the consequences of participating in AEC.
Based on the result of this study, generally, AEC
appears as an opportunity and a threat at the same
time for people’s welfare. In this case, the human
resources should be enhanced to be able to compete
in the regional Asean market. Education institutions
should make some basic modification to improve the
quality of the graduates as the agent of change in
AEC. The most possible strategic effort to apply is
designing a curriculum which is adaptive toward the
ever-changing business environment.
Basically, teaching is a research that keeps
developing. Dynamic learning environment requires
teachers to adjust their teaching to the current
situation. One of the aspect in the economics theory
is economic activities. Within an economic program,
Economics Teachers Perception on Asean Economic Community and the Implication toward the Teaching of Economics
659

AEC attempts at enhancing the economic activities
done by the people. There are some ways to introduce
AEC to the people, one of which is through education.
Teachers hold the duty to introduce students about
AEC. As facilitators, teachers have to teach students
about AEC and its meaning though various teaching
strategies. Teachers may assign the students to
explore from various sources about the definition,
objectives, and characteristics of AEC. This teaching
strategy goes in line with the principle of the 2013
curriculum in which students are demanded to
actively search for what they want to learn from
various sources. As facilitators, teachers are allowed
to give explanation when necessary, and let the
students to learn themselves. Students are expected to
have high understanding and comprehension on AEC.
Teachers should also motivate students and get them
aware that they are the future productive economic
players who should stay optimistic in competing in
the AEC era.
Based on the result of a study conducted by
Huang and Lee (2012) in Siregar, et al (2016), human
resources (including the quality of teachers), process,
organizational policies and curriculum are significant
factors of competitive value development in higher
education level in Taiwan. Those four factors shape
strong foundation of the skills and the cognition of the
students in understanding learning materials. In the
context of the implementation of AEC, improving the
quality of the human resources (students), schools,
and implementing an integrative curriculum become
important agenda. In this context, curriculum and
students are two important elements in the teaching
and learning process at school. Whereas, teachers act
as actors who facilitate and motivate the students to
develop their skills and knowledge.
The result of this study supports Dangdang (2016)
who confirmed that in order to obtain high
comprehension skill, educators should be aware of
the dynamic global environment strategies to be
considered in designing a curriculum. Presently,
students found difficulties in improving their
comprehension skill and their cognition, besides they
also found problems in understanding the Asean
Economic Community. This fact demands teachers to
design good curriculum to equip the students with
adequate knowledge and skills that will allow them to
adapt well with the dynamic global environment.
Teachers hold a key point in introducing AEC to
the students. The process of knowledge transfer runs
smoothly when teachers have innovative and
dynamic view on the ASEAN free trade area.
Teachers’ cognitive skills should be presented in the
form of effective psych motoric and affective actions.
Within the cognition framework, implications that
may occur in the teaching and learning activities
include: 1) How are information or substances of
learning materials should be delivered by teachers in
the classroom? 2) Based on teachers’ expectation,
what are competences that should be mastered by
students in facing AEC era? 3) What are appropriate
teaching strategies to prepare students’ competences
in facing AEC?. Within the psychomotor domain,
teachers should present concrete examples on the
implementation of AEC in student’s daily life. Whilst
in the affective domain, teachers should show
illustrations on the behavioral changes that appear as
the consequences of AEC implementation in the
local, regional and national economic activities. The
most important aspect of affective domain is the
importance of nurturing students’ nationalism and
pride of Indonesia’s local products.
An obvious effort to do for the success of AEC is
designing appropriate economics teaching for
students of high school level. Some important points
to develop teaching and learning plans of economics
include:
 Review of curriculum, core competence and
basic competence: International economic
partnership
 Designing Syllabuses: Arranging course
sequences
 Material determination: The benefit of
international economic partnership of AEC for
the national economy and local products.
 Learning sources planning: Text book, journal,
articles, and internet
 Teaching method : Cooperative learning using
Think Pair Share technique
 Arranging lesson scenario: Teaching
administrations, teaching media, and facilities
Teaching administrations should be made based
on the curriculum applied for high school level in
Indonesia. The implementation of the 2013
curriculum offers broader chance for teachers in
creating innovations and developing their own
teaching materials and teaching practices. The
materials of economics can be added with
international economic partnership and its
implications toward economic development of a
nation. In designing lesson plans of economics
course, students should be driven to comprehend the
importance of the empowerment of local products to
compete in global Asean market. Local-scale
economic activities are reflected upon various
economic activities that involve local genuine
products, local labour, and local market. The ability
to maintain the existence of this local market
aggregately strengthens the foundation national
economy.
ICEEE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Economic Education and Entrepreneurship
660

4 CONCLUSIONS
Some conclusions are drawn based on the result of
this study as follow. Economics teachers perceive
AEC as an opportunity and a threat at for Indonesia’s
economy at the same time. Teachers also consider
Indonesia unready to join AEC. Yet, they also believe
that AEC gives massive benefits for the national
economic development. Modifications on economics
teaching and learning include: modification of
teaching materials by giving more proportion on the
knowledge on international economic activities and
international economic partnership. Within The
international economic partnership materials, AEC
should be presented. Besides, observations and on-
hand practices should be frequently conducted related
to international trading. Teaching and learning
activities should be done using the cooperative
method by utilizing cooperative strategies such as
Think Pair Share to stimulate students’ better
teamwork ability and problem solving.
Considering the results of this study, suggestions
are directed to some parties as follow. Teachers
should conduct coordination in a teachers’ forum to
design a relevant economics teaching for high school
by adding AEC into the teaching materials and
choosing appropriate teaching method. Schools
should provide facilities for teachers in implementing
cooperative learning method for the teaching of
economics to improve students’ comprehension on
AEC by providing suitable classrooms to support on-
hand practices of cooperative learning method.
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