July 2017
Baseline Report Report title report title report titleMalinau and Bulungan, North Kalimantan
February 2019
1 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
INOVASI – Innovation for Indonesia’s School Children Ratu Plaza Office Tower 19th Floor, Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav 9, Jakarta Pusat, 10270 Indonesia Tel : (+6221) 720 6616 ext. 304 Fax : (+6221) 720 6616 http://www.inovasi.or.id
February 2019
Cover photo courtesy of Palladium
The Governments of Australia and Indonesia are partnering through the Innovation for Indonesia’s School Children (INOVASI) program. INOVASI seeks to understand how to improve student learning outcomes in literacy and numeracy in diverse schools and districts across Indonesia. The first phase of the Program (AUD49 million) began in January 2016 and will continue until December 2019. Working with Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture, INOVASI has formed partnerships with 12 districts in: West Nusa Tenggara; Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara; North Kalimantan; and East Java.
INOVASI is an Australia–Indonesia Government Partnership – Managed by Palladium.
2 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
Baseline Report
Malinau and Bulungan, North Kalimantan
February 2019
3 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
Contents
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ...... 5 LIST OF ACRONYMS ...... 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 7 1. INTRODUCTION ...... 10 1.1 BACKGROUND ...... 10 1.2 OBJECTIVES ...... 10 1.3 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY ...... 10
2. PROFILE OF THE RESEARCH AREA ...... 11 2.1 NORTH KALIMANTAN ...... 11 2.2 BULUNGAN DISTRICT ...... 13 2.3 MALINAU DISTRICT ...... 17
3. METHODOLOGY AND FIELD WORK ...... 21 3.1 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUE ...... 21 3.2 INFORMANTS ...... 21 3.3 METHOD OF ANALYSIS ...... 23 3.4 PREPARATION AND TRAINING ...... 23 3.5 FIELD WORK ...... 24
4. FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS ...... 30 4.1 NORTH KALIMANTAN ...... 30 4.2 BULUNGAN DISTRICT ...... 40 4.3 MALINAU DISTRICT ...... 50 4.4 DISCUSSIONS ...... 56
5. CASE STUDIES ...... 66 5.1 TARAKAN ...... 66 5.2 BULUNGAN DISTRICT ...... 68 5.3 MALINAU DISTRICT ...... 70
6. CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 74 6.1 CONCLUSIONS ...... 74 6.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ...... 74 6.3 RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 74
7. REFERENCES ...... 77
4 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 1: Distribution of schools in North Kalimantan 12 Table 2: Distribution of teachers in North Kalimantan 12 Table 3: Characteristics of schools in North Kalimantan 12 Table 4: Characteristics of schools in Bulungan 15 Table 5: School information per sub-district in Bulungan 16 Table 6: Distribution of teachers per sub-district in Bulungan 16 Table 7: Characteristics of schools in Malinau 18 Table 8: School information per sub-district in Malinau 19 Table 9: Distribution of teachers per sub-district in Malinau 19 Table 10: Activities related to improving teachers' competencies in Malinau 20 Table 11: Target informants for In-depth Interview 22 Table 12: Target participants for Focus Group Discussion 22 Table 13: Data collection at the province and districts 24 Table 14: Target vs. interviewed informants at the province 25 Table 15: Target vs. interviewed informants in Bulungan 26 Table 16: Participants of the Focus Group Discussion in Bulungan 27 Table 17: Target vs. interviewed informants in Malinau 28 Table 18: Target vs. actual participants of focus group discussion in Malinau 29 Table 19: Three priority actions for education in North Kalimantan 39 Table 20: Three priority actions for education in Bulungan 44 Table 21: Educational policies in Bulungan 45 Table 22: Schools with best practices in Bulungan 46 Table 23: Activities sponsored by Corporate Social Responsibility in Bulungan 49 Table 24: Three priority actions for education in Malinau 53 Table 25: Educational policies in Malinau 54 Table 26: Common and unique educational issues in North Kalimantan 56 Table 27: Summary of findings and recommendations 61 Table 28: Local best practices 66
Figure 1: Map of Bulungan and Malinau districts in North Kalimantan 11 Figure 2: Education budget of North Kalimantan 13 Figure 3: Map of Bulungan district 14 Figure 4: Map of Malinau district 17 Figure 5: Data Analysis Process 23
5 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan LIST OF ACRONYMS
ACDP Education Sector Analytical and Capacity Development Partnership ADB Asian Development Bank Local revenue and expenditure budget (anggaran pendapatan belanja APBD daerah) Regional development planning board (Badan Perencanaan Bappeda Pembangunan Daerah) BOS Schools operational grant (Biaya operasional sekolah) BOSDA Local schools operational grant BPS Central Bureau of Statistics (Badan Pusat Statistik) CSR Corporate social responsibility DAK Special allocation budget (dana alokasi khusus) DAPODIK Basic education data (data pokok pendidikan) Diploma 4 (Four-year diploma) equivalent to a bachelor's degree D4
Village community empowerment office (Dinas Pemberdayaan DPMD Masyarakat Desa) DPR Regional People's Representative Assembly FGD Focus group discussion
IDR Indonesian rupiah Kaltara North Kalimantan (Kalimantan Utara) KKG Teachers' working group (kelompok kerja guru) Provincial Quality Assurance Board (Lembaga Penjaminan Mutu LPMP Pendidikan) MoEC Ministry of Education and Culture MoRA Ministry of Religious Affairs Musrenbang Development planning forum (Musyawarah Perencanaan Pembangunan) OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Early childhood education (pendidikan anak usia dini) PAUD
National development plan (Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Menengah RPJMN Nasional) RPSA Rapid participatory situation analysis RT Neighbourhood (rukun tetangga) S1 Three year study program, equivalent to a bachelor's degree SD Primary school (sekolah dasar) SLB School for special needs children SMA Senior secondary school SMK Senior vocational school SMP Junior secondary school SDIT Sekolah Dasar Islam Terpadu (Integrated Islamic Primary School) 3T Disadvantaged, remote and border areas (terluar, terpencil, tertinggal) USD United States dollar
6 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Innovation for Indonesia’s School Children (INOVASI) project is a collaboration between the Indonesian and Australian governments that aims to improve literacy, numeracy and inclusion in primary schools in Indonesia. The project focuses on understanding local challenges and opportunities as well as generating and sharing evidence with key stakeholders. INOVASI has formed partnerships with 12 districts in four provinces, namely, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan and East Java. The project started in 2016 and the first phase will end in 2019. This report presents the baseline qualitative assessment that was undertaken in North Kalimantan province and in Malinau and Bulungan districts in February 2018.
The baseline study employed three qualitative assessment methods: in-depth interviews (IDI) with key informants, focus group discussions (FGD) and in-depth case studies.
• Ten informants from nine institutions were interviewed at the provincial level, while nine and eight informants were interviewed in Bulungan and Malinau districts respectively. The in-depth interviews were conducted with informants working in local government and non-government offices. • The focus group discussions were organised at the district level and were divided into two groups, namely, decision makers and education practitioners. A total of 23 participants joined the focus group discussions. • Five in-depth case studies were carried out to follow up on best practices that were mentioned in the in-depth interviews and or focus group discussions. The studies included visiting the sites, interviewing key informants and observing the activities.
The study found that most primary school teachers in North Kalimantan are civil servants with permanent positions although almost half of them will retire soon. While most primary school teachers (92 per cent) have a bachelor's degree or the equivalent (known as S1 or D4) or even higher qualifications, one-third of them do not yet have a teaching qualification. A lack of competence and the low quality of their teaching (especially in remote, inland areas) could partly explain why these teachers are not yet certified. The ratios of teachers to schools, teachers to learning groups, teachers to students (1:14), students to grades and students to school may be ideal for basic education but these ratios tend to be economically inefficient when compared to the national standards (1:22). Most of the schools do not have a library and only some of the existing libraries are in good condition. An unsupportive school environment produces a low quality of learning and low levels of achievement among students.
The informants could not clearly define the concept of education quality. Some of them related education quality to the eight national standards of education1 while others cited only some of these standards. The interviews and focus group discussions identified a number of challenges to education and, based on levels of priority, these included: teachers' low competence levels; lack of parents or community involvement; school supervisors' low levels of competence; unequal or problematic distribution of teachers; lack of infrastructure, access and equipment; budget limitations; lack of teaching aids; and low levels of commitment among stakeholders.
The specific challenges for literacy, numeracy, inclusion and gender identified from the assessments were: low literacy rates (below national score average); lack of library facilities; misconceptions about literacy, numeracy and inclusion among teachers, parents and other stakeholders; lack of storybooks for children; lack of training on inclusive education; teachers' low levels of competence; limited interest in literacy, numeracy and writing among students in grades one to three; no available data on students with special needs; limited access to information; and high rates of teacher absenteeism in the border areas.
1 Government issued a decree on the National Education Standards in 2005 and these standards cover eight main areas: content; process; graduate quality and abilities; educational staff; educational resources and infrastructure; management; finance; and educational assessment.
7 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
To overcome these challenges, local provincial and district governments have instituted the following policies and principles: issuing local government regulations or decrees; offering teachers incentives; offering student scholarships; a 16-year compulsory education program; frontline teacher recruitment; training for teachers on the 2013 curriculum; strengthening the character education program; providing school transport in collaboration with private companies; and scholarships for further training for teachers. However, synchronising these policies and approaches and ensuring they are implemented still needs to be managed. For instance, to implement the 16-year compulsory education policy, pre-school teachers need to be recruited and the infrastructure put in place.
In addition, the various stakeholders have implemented a number of local solutions to improve the quality of basic education. These include: a long-distance learning program for primary and secondary non-formal basic education (packages A and B); the school literacy movement; the car library program; multi-grade teaching; reading parks; the neighbourhood clean-up program (RT Bersih); district budget allocations for literacy programs; collaboration with the Border Teachers' Forum; establishing students' dormitories for schools in remote areas; working with volunteers from the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), internships for teachers in remote areas through the community service program organised by Borneo University's teaching faculty; and recruiting local teachers with high school qualifications. Furthermore, some schools in Bulungan and Malinau districts have become reference schools for the literacy movement, adopting local best practices that support and promote literacy in their schools and in the surrounding community. Other future solutions may include improving the package A and B non-formal education programs, scaling up the school literacy movement within the province, extending the mobile library program and increasing activities to improve students' competence in literacy.
Teachers' working groups (kelompok kerja guru – KKG) in both Bulungan and Malinau districts have not yet helped to improve teachers' competencies. Teachers were not motivated to attend group meetings and the meeting activities tended to be limited to sharing information on their subject areas. There were no resource people or instructors available to provide guidance to the teachers and the meetings usually focused on composing examination questions and they were sometimes limited to just twice a year. The district education office did not offer training for the teachers' groups since training was usually organised by the provincial education office. The teachers' working groups need to be given the support and authority to be able to effectively improve teachers' competencies.
The local provincial and district governments are committed to improving the quality of basic education. For example, they have increased their education budget to more than 20 per cent of the total budget (although this is mostly allocated to teachers’ salaries and incentives). Villages have also allocated 10 per cent of their village funds to improve education quality (mostly for physical improvement). Local governments have also been collaborating with the private sector to fulfil their corporate social responsibility by supporting basic education, for example by providing school buildings, new classrooms, building roads and providing books. The regulations concerning collaboration with the corporate social responsibility scheme and its budget allocation, however, still need to be set out.
North Kalimantan has the same challenges found throughout Indonesia including: limited budgets; unequal or problematic distribution of teachers; lack of competence among teachers; lack of parents or community involvement; limited access to schools; lack of competence among school supervisors; misunderstanding of the concept of literacy; and lack of training for inclusive education. However, the province also has some specific issues to deal with, for example: parents do not recognise the importance of education; schools have no space allocated for library rooms; particular gender issues; teachers' lack of creativity; teachers are underqualified; schools in transmigration areas are more developed; and illiteracy is still found in remote villages.
8 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan The various actors at the provincial and district levels need to take action to improve the situation. They need to familiarise educational stakeholders, teachers, parents and communities with the issues of quality education, literacy, numeracy and inclusive classrooms. District education offices need to support and empower the existing teachers and principals' working groups as a means of improving their competencies. Local governments should select the best practices to overcome literacy and numeracy challenges that can be scaled up within their districts. Schools and education offices should encourage parents and communities to participate in developing their schools and focus on developing teachers' competence in their financial planning.
9 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
The Innovation for Indonesia’s School Children (INOVASI) project is a collaboration between the governments of Indonesia and Australia that aims to improve literacy, numeracy and inclusion in Indonesian primary schools. The project focuses on understanding local challenges and opportunities, as well as generating and sharing evidence with key stakeholders. Although Indonesia made considerable improvements in access to basic education by doubling government spending and achieving 100 per cent enrolment in primary education, this has not resulted in better learning outcomes. The national, provincial and district level governments in Indonesia are committed to supporting new initiatives in the education sector that can improve literacy and numeracy outcomes.
The INOVASI project has formed partnerships with 12 districts in four provinces, namely, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan and East Java. The project started in 2016 and the first phase will end in 2019. In West Nusa Tenggara, the program has already produced local solutions for local challenges.
As INOVASI is expanding to the North Kalimantan province, this report elaborates on the baseline qualitative assessment undertaken in the province and in Malinau and Bulungan districts. An output from a recent survey2 in North Kalimantan found that over a third (39 per cent) of grade two students were not able to read. Out of the 61 per cent who are able to read, about one-third do not understand the story implicitly.
1.2 OBJECTIVES
The aim of the baseline qualitative assessment is to explore potential educational performance indicators at the provincial and district levels and in particular: 1. to assess education challenges; 2. to explore local solutions to improve student learning; 3. to explore good practices in education; 4. to map out the workload and potential of the teachers' working groups; and 5. to explore the potential of the village funds and the regional development planning forums (musyawarah perencanaan pembangunan – Musrenbang) to support education.
1.3 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
Before implementing a new intervention in education, we need to conduct a baseline study to diagnose the local problems and understand the context in relation to basic education. Educational issues vary among districts and provinces and what matters in one district may not matter in other districts. We cannot provide a single education program in all the contexts and expect to effectively deliver the anticipated outcomes. It is crucial to identify the specific educational issues related to a given context.
This study is also an essential step in setting standards and measures for monitoring and evaluating various educational achievements. Deciding which standards and measures to use requires a knowledge of what ‘matters most’ in the district.
2 Indonesian education and learning innovation survey (Survei Inovasi Pendidikan dan Pembelajaran Indonesia – SIPPI) 2017, implemented by the INOVASI program.
10 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
2. PROFILE OF THE RESEARCH AREA
2.1 NORTH KALIMANTAN
Geographic and demographic context North Kalimantan (Kalimantan Utara – Kaltara) is the newest province in Indonesia, located in the northern part of Kalimantan Island. It was formed in 2012 and covers an area of 75,467km2 (BPS 2017). The province borders the Indonesian East Kalimantan province to the south, the Malaysian states of Sabah to the north, Sarawak to the west and the Sulawesi Sea to the east. It has five administrative areas: four districts (Bulungan, Malinau, Nunukan, Tana Tidung) and one city (Tarakan) (see Figure 1). Malinau covers the largest area (40,088km2) and Tarakan covers the smallest area (250km2) while 13 per cent of its area is sea. The province consists of 40 sub-districts and 482 villages and has a population of approximately 666,333 (BPS, MoNDP, UNFPA 2013). The highest population is in Tarakan (244,185) and the lowest is in Tana Tidung (23,497).
North Kalimantan is a mountainous region with more than 161 islands and 123 rivers. Similar to other Indonesian regions, it has a tropical climate with high rainfall. Out of its inhabitants, 40 per cent are of Javanese origin (due to the previous government’s transmigration program), followed by people from South Sulawesi and other local ethnic groups. Economic activities are primarily agriculture, plantations, forestry and mining with forestry accounting for 90 per cent of land use. The rivers are a means of transport and they support economic activities. However, the transport and infrastructure limitations lead to goods not always being accessible, creating problems for local governments.
Figure 1: Map of Bulungan and Malinau districts in North Kalimantan
Source: https://saripedia.wordpress.com/tag/peta-kaltara/
Education profile – North Kalimantan About two-thirds (64 per cent) of all schools in North Kalimantan are primary schools and most of them (87 per cent) are state schools. The province has 467 primary schools (sekolah dasar –SD) and four schools for children with special needs (sekolah luar biasa –SLB). Bulungan district has the most schools as well as the highest number of primary schools (Table 1). Out of the over 9,000 teachers in North Kalimantan, 56 per cent are primary school teachers (Table 2).
11 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
Table 1: Distribution of schools in North Kalimantan District Total schools Primary schools Special needs schools State & State Private State & State Private State & State Private private private private Bulungan 223 200 23 139 131 8 1 1 0 Nunukan 200 178 22 132 124 8 1 1 0 Malinau 165 155 10 105 102 3 1 1 0 Tarakan 105 66 39 63 47 16 1 1 0 Tana 40 39 1 28 27 1 0 0 0 Tidung Total 733 638 95 467 431 36 4 4 0 Source: DAPODIK, 2018
Table 2: Distribution of teachers in North Kalimantan
District Total teachers Primary school teachers Special needs teachers Total Men Women Total Men Women Total Men Women Nunukan 2,586 1,193 1,393 1,499 678 821 9 3 6 Bulungan 2,405 955 1,450 1,309 462 847 12 3 9 Tarakan 2,248 804 1,444 1,185 354 831 17 3 14 Malinau 1,891 908 983 1,061 492 569 7 5 2 Tana 535 241 294 321 142 179 0 0 0 Tidung Total 9,665 4,101 5,564 5,375 2,128 3,247 45 14 31 Source: DAPODIK, 2018
Most primary school teachers (92 per cent) have bachelor’s degrees but only about one-third (30 per cent) are certified teachers (although this is mandated by law).3 While the teacher–student ratio for primary schools in the province appears to be ideal at 1:14 this ratio is inefficient as it is far below the national standard ratio of 1:22 for primary schools. Other characteristics of education in the province are shown in Table 3.
Half of the primary schools have libraries, which are a prerequisite for a literacy program. Libraries play a key role in shaping students' reading ability and are considered an important part of developing the entire school community. Article 42 of Government regulation no 19 of 2005 on the National education standards states that every education unit should have infrastructure covering land, classrooms, the principal's office, teachers' room, administrative space and a library, as well as other spaces needed to support the ongoing learning process. Additionally, article 29 in Government regulation no 17 of 2010 states that local governments or districts should allocate budget to ensure that the national education system can be implemented effectively, efficiently and accountably in accordance with the regional policy of education, including a budget for school library rooms.
Table 3: Characteristics of schools in North Kalimantan
Type of school Characteristics Primary schools Special needs schools Teacher to student ratio 1:13.7 1:6.8 Teacher to class group ratio 1:1.6 1:0.6 Presence of a library (%) 50 100 Presence of a laboratory (%)4 7 0 Certification of teachers (%) 30.3 14.3 Teachers with a bachelor's degree (%) 92 93 Source: http://jendela.data.kemdikbud.go.id
3 Law no 14 of 2005 article 11 4 Laboratories are not included in the standard facilities and infrastructure for primary schools
12 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
The total education budget for North Kalimantan was IDR1,829 billion (about USD133 million) in 2016. The allocation for education was 17 per cent in Bulungan and 13 per cent in Malinau (Figure 2). The cost of education is about IDR13 million per student per year (equivalent to USD945).5
Figure 2: Education budget, North Kalimantan
Source: Regional education budget 2016
2.2 BULUNGAN DISTRICT
Geographic and demographic context
Bulungan district is home to the provincial capital, Tanjung Selor, which is also the district capital. The district is in the eastern part of the province and covers an area of 13,181km2, consisting of both land and sea (BPS 2017). The administrative borders of Bulungan district are as follows: Tana Tidung and Nunukan district to the north; Sulawesi Sea and Tarakan City to the east; East Kalimantan to the south; and Malinau district to the west. The district is divided into ten sub-districts (Peso, Peso Hilir, Tanjung Palas, West Tanjung Palas, North Tanjung Palas, East Tanjung Palas, Tanjung Selor, Central Tanjung Palas, Sekatak and Bunyu island) and 81 villages, as shown in Figure 3. The largest sub-district is Peso (3,143km2) while the smallest is Bunyu (198km2).
The total population of the district is around 150,656 inhabitants, with the highest in Tanjung Selor (54,460 inhabitants) and the lowest in Peso Hilir (4,470 inhabitants). Tanjung Selor is the densest area (80 people per km2) and Peso is the least dense (1.4 person per km2). Most of the district lies between 500m–1,000m above sea level. Bulungan is known for its horticultural production (BPS 2017). However, the number and percentage of poor people in Bulungan are slightly higher than in other districts (BPS 2018).
5 Exchange rate USD1 = IDR13,763; source: www.klikbca.com; 8 April 2018
13 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Figure 3: Map of Bulungan district
Sumber: Bulungan dalam Angka, 2017
Education profile
Bulungan has 140 primary schools made up of 131 state schools, eight religious-based school (seven Islamic and one Buddhist) and one school for children with special needs (MoEC 2018). There are 17,121 primary school students in the district in total, with a range of eight to 626 per school (DAPODIK 2018).6 The primary schools are supported by 1,321 teachers, with a range of three to 28 teachers per school.7 The number of classrooms per school ranges from three to 22. Only two schools have a laboratory and 37 per cent have libraries. On average there are 125 students, 10 teachers and seven classrooms per school.
The teacher–student ratio for primary school is considered ideal (1:12) but is nevertheless inefficient since this ratio is far below the national standard (1:22 for primary and 1:32 for junior secondary school). The school to student as well as the student to learning group ratios for primary schools are also below national standards (1:129 and 1:19 respectively). Most of the teachers have a bachelor's degree (95.6 per cent)8 but only 38 per cent are certified teachers. About one-third of the primary schools are accredited but only 2 per cent are rated as very good. Accreditation involves a comprehensive and systematic appraisal of the feasibility of schools or educational programs to meet the national standards of education developed by the national education standards board (Badan Standarisasi Nasional Pendidikan). The process is run by the national accreditation body (Badan Akreditasi Nasional) and they use the following ranking: A (very good) score 86–100; B (good) score 71–85; and C score 56–70. A school is accredited if it has no score less than 56, no more than two components with scores less than 56, and none of the components with scores less than 40. The components evaluated are: standard of
6 Based on 137 schools. 7 Based on 140 schools. 8 Out of 1,032 teachers
14 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan content; processes; graduate competence; education and education personnel; facilities and infrastructure; education management; financing; and educational assessment. Characteristics of the schools in Bulungan are shown in Table 4 and information on the schools and the number of teachers per sub-district are shown in Table 5 and Table 6 respectively. The distribution of students per school is included in Appendix 1. The total budget for education in Bulungan is about IDR311 billion (about USD 22.6 million) (Figure 2).
Table 4: Characteristics of schools in Bulungan
Type of school Characteristics Primary school School for children with special needs Teacher to student ratio 1:11.95 1:3.3 Teacher to class group ratio 1:3.3 1:1.2 Student to grade ratio 18.4:1 4:1 Students to learning group ratio 18.6:1 4:1 School to students ratio 1:128.7 1:35 Categorisation of classrooms • Good 148 (17%) 90% • Light damage 468 • Moderate damage 95 • Heavy damage 188 • Total 899 Presence of a library (%) 31 100 Condition of the library • Good 12 (out of 49) 1 out of 1 • Light damage 22 • Moderate damage 6 • Heavy damage 9 Presence of a laboratory 2 0 Certification of teachers (%) 37.6 9.1 Teachers with bachelor’s degree (%) 95.6 100 Number of teachers by age • under 30 years 15.9 • 51–55 years 16.8 No data • over 55 years 9.3 School accreditation • A 3 • B 8 • C 18 • Unaccredited 110 1
Source: MoEC, online at: http://jendela.4data.kemdikbud.go.id
15 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Table 5: School information per sub-district in Bulungan
Number of: Education Name of sub-district School Class group Teacher personnel Classroom Laboratory Library Peso Hilir 6 36 44 0 29 0 1 Sekatak 12 87 119 2 77 0 4 Tanjung Palas Timur 13 99 129 10 86 0 8 Tanjung Palas Utara 12 77 105 7 85 0 2 Tanjung Selor 35 275 396 32 260 2 16 Tanjung Palas 21 133 196 11 130 0 10 Tanjung Palas Tengah 14 91 102 0 83 0 2 Bunyu 6 55 78 5 56 0 4 Peso 11 64 68 3 63 0 1 Tanjung Palas Barat 9 38 81 4 65 0 3 139 955 1318 74 934 2 51 Name of school SLB TANJUNG SELOR 1 12 12 3 10 1 1
Table 6: Distribution of teachers per sub-district in Bulungan
Sub-district Total Primary school teachers Special needs school teachers Total Men Women Total Men Women Tanjung Selor 408 396 88 308 12 3 9 Tanjung Palas 196 196 64 132 0 0 0 East Tanjung 120 120 50 70 0 0 0 Palas North Tanjung 105 105 46 59 0 0 0 Palas Bunyu island 78 78 15 63 0 0 0 Sekatak 119 119 70 49 0 0 0 Central 102 102 37 65 0 0 0 Tanjung Palas West Tanjung 81 81 40 41 0 0 0 Palas Peso 68 31 37 0 0 0 Peso Hilir 44 44 21 23 0 0 0 Total 1,32 1,30 462 847 12 3 9 1 9
16 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 2.3 MALINAU DISTRICT
Geographical and demographic context
Malinau district is about a six-hour drive from Tanjung Selor, the capital city of the province. It covers a total land area of 40,088km2 and is the the largest district in the province (more than 50 per cent of the province) although it has the lowest population density (BPS 2017). The district capital is Malinau city. Its boundaries are Nunukan district in the north, Bulungan district to the east, Tana Tidung district to the west and West Kutai to the south. Malinau consists of 15 sub-districts (Malinau Kota, Sungai Boh, South Kayan, Kayan Hulu, Kayan Hilir, Pujungan, Bahau Hulu, Sungai Tubu, South Malinau, Malinau South Hilir, Malinau South Hulu, Mentarang, Mentarang Hulu, North Malinau, and West Malinau), 109 sub-villages and 318 neighborhood units (see map in Figure 4). The population in 2016 was 80,618 inhabitants, with the highest density in Malinau City (175 inhabitants per km2) and the lowest in Kayan Hilir (0.2 inhabitants per km2). Malinau has the highest proportion of forest use in the province.
Figure 4: Map of Malinau district
Education profile
Malinau has 105 primary schools made up of 101 state schools, three religious-based schools (two Islamic and one Catholic) and one school for children with special needs (MoEC 2018). The total number of primary school students is 9,539, with a range of 3 to 501 students per school (DAPODIK).9 The primary schools are supported by 1,068 teachers, with a range of 1 to 29 teachers per school.10 The number of classrooms per school ranges from three to 20 and none of the schools has a laboratory although 59 per cent have libraries. On average there are 100 students, 11 teachers and seven classrooms per school. Characteristics of the
9 Based on 96 schools. 10 Based on 105 schools.
17 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan schools in Malinau are shown in Table 7. School information and number of teachers per sub-district are shown in Table 8 and Table 9 respectively. The distribution of students and teachers per school are included in Appendix 1.
Table 7: Characteristics of schools in Malinau
Type of school Characteristics Primary school School for children with special needs Ratio of teachers to students 1:9.4 1:5.4 Ratio of teachers to class group 1:1.6 1:0.7 Ratio of students to class 15.1:1 4.9:1 Ratio of students to class group 15.3:1 3.9:1 Ratio of students to school 102.9:1 59:1 Classrooms classified as ‘good’ (%) 24 24.3 Presence of library (%) 37 100 Presence of laboratory (%) 1 0 Certification of teachers (%) 22.7 9.1 Teachers with bachelor’s degree (%) 84.0 85.7 Age of teachers: above 55 years 4.9 between 51-55 years 13.7 below 30 years 19.6 Number of libraries classified as ‘good’ 164 out of 686 7 out of 13 School accreditation A 3 B 14 C 15 Unaccredited 72 1 Source: MoEC, online at: http://jendela.data.kemdikbud.go.id
18 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Table 8: School information per sub-district in Malinau
Number of: Schools Class Teachers Staff Classrooms Laboratories Libraries Sub-district groups Malinau South 7 45 63 9 48 0 5 Hilir West Malinau 10 78 127 16 76 0 8 North Malinau 14 94 192 18 95 0 14 Malinau Kota 13 97 193 40 118 0 13 Bahau Hulu 6 36 40 1 38 0 1 Sungai Boh 5 22 40 1 28 0 0 Kayan Hilir 3 18 30 3 18 0 0 Sungai Tubu 5 30 33 2 30 0 0 Kayan Hulu 5 29 40 4 32 0 3 South Kayan 4 24 37 3 24 0 3 South Malinau 5 31 59 1 39 0 3 Pujungan 8 43 49 1 48 0 0 Mentarang 6 42 71 10 42 0 6 Mentarang Hulu 8 33 42 2 45 0 3 Malinau South 6 30 45 2 33 0 1 Hulu Total 105 652 1,061 113 714 0 61 Name of school SLB Negeri 3 24 7 1 12 0 1 Malinau
Table 9: Distribution of teachers per sub-district in Malinau Sub-district Total Primary school teachers Special needs school teachers Total Men Women Total Men Women Malinau Kota 200 193 62 131 7 5 2
North 192 192 80 112 0 0 0 Malinau West 127 127 37 90 0 0 0 Malinau Mentarang 71 71 23 48 0 0 0 Malinau 63 63 26 37 0 0 0 South Hilir South 59 59 23 36 0 0 0 Malinau Pujungan 49 49 30 19 0 0 0 Sungai Boh 40 40 26 14 0 0 0 Malinau 45 45 30 15 0 0 0 South Hulu Kayan Hulu 40 40 29 11 0 0 0 South Kayan 37 37 26 11 0 0 0 Mentarang 42 42 26 16 0 0 0 Hulu Bahau Hulu 40 40 26 14 0 0 0 Kayan Hilir 30 30 26 4 0 0 0 Sungai Tubu 33 33 22 11 0 0 0 Total 1,06 1,061 492 569 7 5 2 8
19 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
The total district education office budget for 2018 is IDR54,541,978,80611 (about USD3.9 million). Budget allocated for improving teachers' competencies is IDR1,338,946,415 or 2.5 per cent from the total budget, covering six main programs (Table 10).
Table 10: Activities related to improving teachers' competencies in Malinau
Number Activities related to improving teachers' competencies Budget (IDR) 1. Improving competence of early childhood education (PAUD) 263,284,615 teachers to S1 level 2. Teachers' certification 138,161,800 3. Teachers' credit evaluation 150,000,000 4. 2013 curriculum training for primary and junior secondary 498,750,000 teachers 5. Certification for primary and junior secondary school teachers 40,000,000 and school supervisors 6. Data training for primary and junior secondary school teachers 248,750,000 Total 1,338,946,415 Other activities 7 Early childhood education program12 586,100,000 8 Nine years compulsory education13 36,091,292,000 9. Education service management program14 14,530,647,391
11 Work plan and budget for the education office, regional work unit, Malinau regional government, 2018 financial year. 12 Schools operational grants/Local schools operational grants (BOS/BOSDA) for four schools, with budget allocation according to the number of students; 2013 curriculum training, accreditation and national acreditation agency 13 BOSDA for 106 state primary schools, allocated according to student numbers, BOSDA for 35 junior secondary schools and one state Islamic school allocated according to student numbers; support for BOS/BOSDA administration for regular primary, junior secondary and senior secondary schools and religious schools, school-based and national examinations for junior secondary package B, building classrooms, developing ex-SMA Kebangsaan and planning for small primary schools and for special allocation budgets for education. 14 Fees for 317 non-permanent teachers, students national sports olympics (primary and junior secondary), national cultural festival (primary and junior secondary), national science competition (primary and junior secondary), operational fund for school supervisors, regional technical service unit and support for INOVASI program
20 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 3. METHODOLOGY AND FIELD WORK
3.1 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUE
The baseline study was collected using three qualitative assessment methods: • In-depth Interviews with key informants, • Focus group discussions and • In-depth case studies.
In-depth interviews were conducted with informants working in local government and non-government offices and working in planning, implementing and evaluating primary education. The interviews used a semi- structured questionnaire that was divided into the following topics: • Perception of education quality • Program and policies on basic education • Promising practices in basic education • Donor programs The questions were expanded and further developed as the interviews progressed (see Appendix 2).
The focus group discussions were organised in two groups, with decision makers and education practitioners. Unlike the practitioners, the decision makers were not necessarily working closely with basic education. The guide questions included the following topics: • Perception of education quality • Local challenges in basic education • Programs and policies in overcoming basic education challenges • Promising practices in basic education • Mapping teachers' working group clusters • Village funds and the development planning forums
The focus group discussions aimed to explore the support needed to improve the quality of basic education (see Appendix 2 for the guide questions).
The in-depth case studies explored good practices that were mentioned in the interviews and/or focus group discussions. These case studies examined positive deviant schools and educational issues related to the three main streams of INOVASI: the quality of instruction in literacy and numeracy; the support system for teachers; and inclusive education. The case studies involved visiting the sites, interviewing key informants and observing the activities.
The INOVASI team in North Kalimantan coordinated the paper work and arrangements for the interviews. Further contacts with the informants were managed by the Sakanti consulting team. We were able to contact all the intended agencies at the provincial and district levels and we asked all informants to sign informed consent forms prior to the interviews (see Appendix 3). We held daily debriefing sessions to talk about the research findings and reveal any gaps. Communication was maintained between members within the same district and with members in other districts. When necessary, we sought further answers from the informants by telephone.
3.2 INFORMANTS
Ten informants from nine different institutions were selected to take part in the in-depth interviews at the provincial level, while eight informants from seven institutions were selected at the district level (Table 11).
21 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Table 11: Target informants for the in-depth Interviews
Number Position Provincial level 1 Head of the provincial education office 2 Provincial education office head of special education and special services 3 Provincial government first assistant for governance and social welfare 4 Head of the provincial education board 5 Head of the provincial education commission 6 Head of social and cultural affairs, regional development planning agency (Bappeda) 7 Dean, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Borneo, Tarakan 8 Head of the Education Quality Assurance Board 9 Head of the Indonesian teachers' union for North Kalimantan province 10 Education based non-governmental organisations focusing on literacy and mumeracy District Level 1 Head of the provincial teachers' union 2 Head of the primary education division, provincial education office 3 Head of the district education office 4 Head of education commission II, regional people's representative assembly (DPR) 5 Village community empowerment office 6 Head of the district education board 7 District assistant for governance and social welfare 8 Head of district development planning agency
Eight participants were identified for each focus group discussion (Table 12). These needed a minimum of six participants to function as planned. Informants who had been interviewed did not participate in the focus group discussions.
Table 12: Target participants for the focus group discussions
Group No Participants Policymakers 1 Head of student and character development division, district education office 2 Head of administration and human resources development, Bappeda 3 Secretary of the district education board 4 Head of the office for women's empowerment and child protection 5 District social affairs department 6 Head of community empowerment office 7 Non-governmental organisations 8 Universities Practitioners 1 Head of teachers' working group 2 Head of school cluster 3 Primary school supervisor 4 Head of curriculum and evaluation section, district education office 5 Head of the teachers and education personnel section, district education office
6 Head of the program/planning division, district education office 7 Regular primary schools and religious schools supervisor 8 Head of Islamic school education
22 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 3.3 METHOD OF ANALYSIS
All interviews and focus group discussions were recorded by audiorecorder and the recordings were transcribed verbatim by trained transcribers and validated by the interviewers. The data analysis team read the transcripts and listened to the recordings again and sought clarification from the interviewer or even the informants when necessary. The data was analysed in two phases (Figure 7).
In the first phase, quick analyses of the field notes and observations were done using a matrix. The aim of this activity was to investigate educational issues concerning the three main streams of INOVASI and to find positive deviant schools. Each emerging topic identified was noted in the matrix. The topics included underlying factors contributing to certain educational problems, local practices with the potential to improve educational practices and support for local promising practices.
In the second phase, we analysed the outputs from the interviews and focus group discussions using the qualitative research software, Dedoose (version 7.5.9). The analysis of the qualitative data was divided into three steps: (1) the coding process; (2) displaying data; and (3) drawing conclusions (Figure 5). Two qualitative researchers did the coding process independently to ensure corroboration. They used two types of triangulation: triangulating data sources (in-depth interviews and focus group discussions) and triangulating the field notes and the reseachers' reflections on the findings. The list of coding is reproduced in Appendix 4.
Figure 5: Data analysis process
Data Collection Coding
field notes , Category Data Display verbatim
transcript, Themes quick Conclusion analysis Drawing result in the field
3.4 PREPARATION AND TRAINING
The study received ethical approval from the Institute of Research and Community Service, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta in a letter dated 12 February 2018 (see Appendix 5).
Research permits at the provincial and district levels were not needed because the INOVASI program has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the provincial government.
The training was divided into two parts: internal training within the Sakanti consulting team and training with the INOVASI team. The internal training within Sakanti took place over two days and involved the following: synchronising perceptions on educational issues; discussing the questionnaires; and familiarising the team with the qualitative analysis software, Dedoose. Dr Nandang Ananda and Ms Adhika Dibyareswati facilitated the internal training session.
The training with the INOVASI team was organised over three days and the research team from Sumba also participated. Topics covered in the training were: • Introduction to INOVASI and objectives of the study
23 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan • Review of the instruments for in-depth interviews, focus group discussion and case studies • Examples of good practices • National policies and regulations related to basic education and teachers’ clusters, as well as local government policies related to basic education • The potential of village funds and the development planning forum to improve basic education • Field notes, data analysis and reporting • Child protection i. The Sakanti team led sessions on the topics of national policies on basic education and the potential of village funds and development planning forums. The training schedule and presentation slides are included in Appendix 6.
3.5 FIELD WORK
Data collection took place on 12–22 February 2018. A total of 27 informants were interviewed, four focus group discussions were organised and five case studies were carried out. Ten informants were interviewed at the provincial level, while nine informants were interviewed in Bulungan district and eight informants in Malinau district. Two focus group discussions were organised in each district, with a total of 23 participants. Findings for the province were synthesised using information gathered from the in-depth interviews, while findings for the districts were synthesised using information gathered from the in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (Table 13). Out of the five case studies, two were conducted in Bulungan, two in Malinau and one in Tarakan.
Table 13: Data collection in the province and districts
Number of: North Kalimantan Bulungan Malinau In-depth interviews 10 9 8 Focus group 0 2 2 discussions Case studies 1 2 2
Fieldwork – North Kalimantan
All target institutions were represented in the interviews. Seven out of ten interviews were conducted with the target informants while two were with the subordinates (Table 14). All informants were cooperative. Two team members attended most of the interviews with one acting as a moderator and the other taking notes and both contributing to the discussion to further explore the topic. Interviews ranged from 50 to 90 minutes long and mostly took place in the informants’ offices. The field notes from the in-depth interviews are included in Appendix 7 and the transcripts are included in Appendix 8.
24 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Table 14: Target vs. interviewed informants at the provincial level
Number Target interviewees Actual informants interviewed North Kalimantan province Head of the provincial education office Secretary of the provincial education 1 office Head of special education and special Head of special education and special 2 services, provincial education office services, provincial education office Provincial government first assistant for Provincial government first assistant for 3 governance and social welfare governance and social welfare 4 Head of the provincial education board Head of the provincial education board 5 Head of the education commission Head of the education commission Head of social and cultural affairs, 6 Head of social and cultural affairs, Bappeda Bappeda Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Training Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Training 7 and Education, University of Borneo, and Education, University of Borneo, Tarakan Tarakan Head of the Education Quality Assurance Head of the Education Quality Assurance 8 Board Board Head of the Indonesian teachers' union Secretary of the Indonesian teachers' 9 union Head of the non-governmental 10 Non-governmental organisation organisation, Border Teachers' Forum
The interview with the Dean from the University of Borneo took place in Tarakan city which is about one and a half hours (by speed boat) from the provincial capital. Additionally, the team managed to interview the head of the Border Teachers' Forum as a non-governmental organisation. Representatives from the university and non-governmental organisations were originally planned as participants in the focus group discussion but because their offices were located too far away we decided to do in-depth interviews.
25 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Fieldwork – Bulungan
All target institutions were represented in the interviews and focus group discussions. Four interviews were done with the target informants while the other four interviews were done with their subordinates (Table 15). All representatives from target institutions also attended the focus group discussions. Both policymakers and practitioners focus group discussions had six participants (Table 16). The focus group discussions took about two hours. The field notes are included in Appendix 7, the transcripts in Appendix 8, the list of the informants and their contact numbers in Appendix 9, and the descriptions of the case studies in Appendix 10.
Table 15: Target vs. interviewed informants in Bulungan
Number Target interviewees Actual informants interviewed Bulungan district 1 Head of the district teachers' union Head of the district teachers' union Head of the primary education division, Head of the primary education division, 2 district education office district education office 3 Head of the district education office Head of the district education office Head of the education commission II, Head of the education commission II, people's representative assembly (Dewan regional people's representative assembly Perwakilan Rakyat – DPR) 4 Village community empowerment office Head of community empowerment division, 5 village community empowerment office 6 Head of the education board Secretary of the education board Head/secretary/third assistant of the district Assistant in the social welfare division of the 7 government district office Head of Bappeda Head of human resources development, 8 Bappeda No target on private industry Community development manager, PT Pesona Khatulistiwa Nusantara (mining 9 group)
26 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Table 16: Participants of focus group discussions in Bulungan
Group No. Target participants Actual participants Policy- 1 Representatives for basic education, Head of students and character makers district education office development division, district education office 2 Representative of the social and Head of governance and human cultural division, Bappeda resources division, Bappeda 3 Representative of the education Secretary of the education board board 4 Representative of women's Head of women's empowerment and empowerment and child protection child protection office office 5 Representative of the social affairs Representative of the social affairs department department 6 Village community empowerment Head of human resources, village office community empowerment office 7 Non-governmental organisation Changed to in-depth interviews due to 8 University representatives distant locationi Practiti 1 Head of a teachers' working group Head of a teachers' working group oners 2 Head of a school cluster Head of a school cluster 3 Primary school supervisor Primary school supervisor 4 Head of curriculum and evaluation, Assessment analyst, district education district education office office 5 Head of the teachers and education Staff in the teachers and education personnel section, district education personnel section, district education office office 6 Head of the infrastructure section, Staff in the infrastructure section, district district education office education office 7 Primary school supervisor (regular or None religious schools) 8 Head of education, Ministry of None Religious Affairs
On 15 February 2018, the team observed a development planning consultation meeting, a community planning and decision-making process, in Tanjung Selor sub-district.
27 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Fieldwork – Malinau
We carried out eight in-depth interviews, two focus group discussions and two case studies in Malinau. All target institutions were represented in the interviews. Six interviews were conducted with the target informants, while two were conducted with the subordinates (Table 17). All target agencies were represented in the focus group discussions. Six participants attended the discussions with policymakers while five participants attended the discussions with practitioners (Table 18). The focus group discussions took about two hours. The field notes are included in Appendix 7, the transcripts in Appendix 8, the list of informants and participants as well as their contact numbers in Appendix 9.
Table 17: Target vs. actual informants interviewed in Malinau
Number Position Actual informants interviewed 1 Head of the teachers' union Head of the teachers' union Head of the primary education division, district Head of the primary education 2 education office division, district education office 3 Head of the district education office Head of the district education office Head of the education commission II, DPR Secretary, education commission I 4 DPR Secretary, of the village community 5 Village community empowerment office empowerment office 6 Head of the education board Head of the education board Head/secretary/third assistant of the district Head of the district government 7 government Head of Bappeda Head of education, culture, youth 8 and sports, Bappeda
28 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Table 18: Target vs. actual participants of focus group discussions in Malinau
Group No Target participants Actual participants Policy 1 Representative for basic education, Head of financial planning, district makers district education office education office 2 Representative for the social and cultural Head of the education and culture division, Bappeda section, Bappeda 3 Representative of the education board Head of the education board 4 Representative from the women's Head of the women's empowerment and empowerment and child protection office child protection office 5 Representative from the social affairs none office
6 Village head or village communiity 1. Head of the appropriate technology empowerment office (Dinas development section, DPMD Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Desa – 2. Head of technology socialisation DPMD) section, DPMD 7 Non-governmental organisation Represented by a non-governmental organisation in Bulungan 8 Universities Represented by University of Borneo, Tarakan
Practiti 1 Head of a teachers' working group Teacher at state primary school (SDN) oners 002 in West Malinau 2 Head of a primary school cluster Head of SDN 002, North Malinau 3 Primary school supervisor Primary school supervisor 4 Head of curriculum and evaluation, Secretary, district education office district education office 5 Head of teachers and education None personnel section, district education office 6 Head of infrastructure section, district Head of infrastructure section, district education office education office 7 Regular and religious primary school None supervisors 8 Head of Islamic education and schools None (madrasah), Ministry of Religious Affairs
29 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 4. FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS
This chapter presents the results of the assessment of the three areas, North Kalimantan province, Bulungan district and Malinau district. The findings for each location are divided into the following topics: (1) education quality; (2) challenges to education, local solutions and recommendations; (3) challenges to literacy; (4) challenges to inclusion; (5) challenges to ethnic groups and gender; (6) the role of teachers' working groups; and (7) partnerships. A summary of the findings and recommendations is presented in Appendix 10.
4.1 NORTH KALIMANTAN
Education quality – stakeholders’ perceptions in North Kalimantan
Government regulation (Peraturan Pemerintah) no 19 of 2005, states that national education standards should be used as the basis for planning, implementing and supervising education to guarantee the quality of education nationwide. Education quality must fulfill all the elements included in the national education standards and so all stakeholders, especially those implementing these policies, need to understand the standards. Any misunderstandings or misinterpretations may result in inappropriate policy and thus compromise quality.
This section records the results of interviews related to education quality with stakeholders in the province. Two out of eight informants stated that education quality can be defined as education that meets the eight national standards of education. Other informants stated that quality education is education that meets the standards of educators, infrastructure, process, and competence of the graduates (learning). Most informants at the provincial level still do not fully understand the meaning of education quality and high-quality education.
The informant from the provincial Education Quality Assurance Board explained that education quality is the extent to which schools meet the eight national standards of education. By evaluating this, a school can produce a school quality report to submit to the district or provincial education office. Up to 95 per cent of schools in North Kalimantan had completed school quality reports. The remaining schools could not submit their reports as they have no internet access (the submission has to be made via the internet). The board's main task is to ensure the quality of education in all schools and to this end, in cooperation with local education offices, the board had organised training workshops on completing school quality reports. An example of a follow-up to these reports was the selection of four model schools from all school levels at the district, city or provincial levels: four kindergarten, four primary, four junior secondary, four senior secondary and four vocational secondary schools. The selected model schools are assigned to share their best practices with five other schools (target schools) and these model schools should also be open for school visits.
Challenges, local solutions and recommendations – North Kalimantan
The team gathered information on challenges to education quality through the in-depth interviews. These challenges can be categorised into several groups, namely those related to teachers, students, assets, communication, skills and budgets. We recorded 18 challenges at the provincial level: the quality of teachers; teachers' motivation; the distribution of teachers; teachers' welfare; teachers' recruitment; the availability of appropriate books; the grades attained; community support; school supervisors; school access; facilities and infrastructure; communication and internet; communication among stakeholders; stakeholders' commitment to basic education; management skills; data; assets; and budgets. The provincial government has succeeded in finding local solutions to overcome many of these challenges. Furthermore, the informants shared their own recommendations for follow-up solutions.
The quality of teachers: All eleven informants stated that the quality of teachers was low, especially in terms of their pedagogical competence (how to teach). The following issues were raised: • Many teachers in remote areas do not have bachelor's degrees (S1/D4 qualifications);
30 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan • Having sufficient teachers is a problem in remote areas; • Senior teachers (over 50 years) do not have the motivation to apply new learning methods and are reluctant to try anything new since they will soon retire; • Not all teachers have been trained in effective teaching methods; • Teachers are not creative in their approach to teaching (they mostly use the lecture method) and they are unable to manage the students in the classroom; • Teachers' levels of competence differ between rural and urban areas; • Schools do not receive sufficient supervision from school supervisors; • Teaching activities do not follow the lesson plans; and • Teachers lack discipline.
The following quote from a provincial staff member also reflects this issue:
'We are faced with a low quality of teachers (low pedagogical competence). Many teachers have difficulties in teaching, meaning that they need to attend refresher training on teaching methods and on their subject matter. However, our budget is too limited to support their attendance for training' (First assistant, governance and social welfare section, provincial education office).
Teachers are not always able to manage the students in their classrooms and do not understand the learning methods for children with special needs or the idea behind inclusive schools. Teachers' competence differs between teachers in the villages and those in the cities. According to a joint Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Asian Development Bank study (OECD/ADB 2015) teachers in Indonesia lack the confidence and competence to deliver the goals of the new Curriculum 2013. They are likely to default to traditional recitation methods in the classroom meaning that the new curriculum will not achieve its intended outcomes.
The results of the qualitative assessment are similar to findings in the rapid participatory situational analysis conducted in North Kalimantan in June 2017(RPSA 2017). The average score on the teacher competence test in North Kalimantan ranks the province as number 17 out of the 34 provinces in Indonesia. None of the districts achieved the minimum score of 60. The average scores were 46 for Bulungan and 45 for Malinau.
Consequently, the provincial government implemented the following local solutions to improve the quality of teachers: • Curriculum 2013 training for supervisors, principals and teachers in cooperation with the corporate social responsibility project with PT Pesona Khatulistiwa Nusantara (PKN); and • Training to improve teachers' competencies, both professional (subject matter) and pedagogical (teaching methods).
The six informants recommended further training for teachers to improve their pedagogical competencies and suggested that this could be done through in-house training and continuing professional development programs. They also recommended that teachers' working groups could be strengthened to help improve teachers’ skills.
Teachers' motivation: A few informants mentioned that teachers lacked motivation. While they carry out their teaching responsibilities, they are not motivated to develop themselves or participate in training activities. When they do attend training, they may not implement the lessons learned in their classrooms. According to a joint Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Asian Development Bank study (OECD/ADB 2015), teachers are likely to use traditional teaching methods in their classrooms because implementing the new 2013 curriculum will require extra effort from both the teachers and the schools. The implementation needs monitoring, mentoring and support from principals and supervisors.
31 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Teachers also need continuing professional development. However, school principals and supervisors do not always have the capacity to manage these responsibilities. One of the local solutions organised by the provincial government was to provide scholarships for teachers to complete bachelor's degrees. This was implemented in collaboration with Indonesia's Open University. Additionally, the informants recommended that supervisors need to be empowered so they can provide support and motivate the teachers.
Teachers distribution: Six informants stated that the unequal distribution of teachers has resulted in fewer teachers in remote areas (especially in seven districts) and more teachers in urban areas. Some reasons for this are that teachers are promoted to positions in the cities and not enough frontline teachers15 are recruited for the remote areas (there are only 40 frontline teachers for the whole of North Kalimantan). Based on RPSA (2017) the proportion of casual teachers (guru honor) is 23 per cent in Bulungan and 21 per cent in Malinau. Providing 40 frontline teachers who have bachelor's degrees or equivalent qualifications and teaching experience is one of the local provincial solutions. Informants recommended synchronising the official data on teachers' distribution with the real data from the field and improving facilities, such as communication networks and transport in remote areas.
Teachers' welfare: The costs of living and of transport in rural areas are high which affects teachers' welfare. Many teachers seek additional income by participating in farming activities. Consequently, many of them either end up leaving or they tend to be absent from school. As a local solution, the provincial government initiated additional incentives for teachers (both for casual and permanent teachers).
Teacher recruitment: Teachers recruited do not always meet civil servant standards in terms of qualifications. Many teachers recruited in remote areas have just completed senior secondary school when the prerequisite for teachers is a bachelor's degree or equivalent. Family or friendship factors are still dominant in the recruitment process. This has resulted in a lack of pedagogical competence and management skills in the classroom and has created unequal services between remote and urban areas. The informants recommended recruiting the best students from the remote areas and giving them scholarships to train as teachers.
Books: The unavailability of storybooks for children in remote areas is due to challenges in getting them delivered. Also, teachers at the village level cannot easily find suitable teaching and learning materials. One local solution is to set up reading parks to provide more books for students to read and study in these areas. The informants suggested creating more of these reading parks, especially in rural areas, and providing smart buses (mobile libraries) in urban areas.
Grades attained: Some informants stated that the grades attained in the province are below the national standard of education. For example, the average national examination score in mathematics for senior secondary students was 38.28, while in North Kalimantan province the average was 31. The average national examination score in mathematics for junior secondary students was 49.67 and for North Kalimantan it was 45.19 (DAPODIK 2017). This shows room for improvement in terms of the quality of teachers, education personnel, content, equipment and infrastructure. Every local government needs to fulfill the eight national education standards16 and the minimum service standards.
Community support: Nine informants commented on the limited support for education from parents and communities. Parents sometimes perceive education as less important than children helping their parents
15 Frontline teachers are specifically trained to cope with the demands of teaching in remote and under-served areas where they may need to teach multigrade classes and use differentiated teaching programs. 16 Government issued a decree on the National Education Standards in 2005 and these standards cover eight main areas: content; process; graduate quality and abilities; educational staff; educational resources and infrastructure; management; finance; and educational assessment.
32 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan in the fields. According to them, children who graduated from schools were not even able to earn any money. Therefore parents, especially in the rural areas, asked their children to leave school. The schools, on the other hand, did not communicate effectively with parents and school committees made no effort to create awareness about education among parents and communities. This is similar to the findings during the RPSA (2017) where school principals were not communicating with the parents about the education process. The perception that education is not important is caused by a limited awareness and knowledge about education itself. The head of the education commission II (DPR) explained the perception among people and communities:
'There is a perception of people in remote areas that school is not important. I see that education is just a complement for them. They have the following thoughts: after finishing school they will go to the forest (to look for gaharu wood and sell it) with their friends who had dropped out from school earlier. So why should I finish school when I can start earning money now? The result would be the same. This perception is still found today' (Head of education commission II, Bulungan).
Local ethnic leaders have urged parents to send their children to school but without much success. For people in these areas, economic issues are more important than education. Some schools or teachers provide alternative education or home schooling for the children so that they can continue to study at home. More creative ideas, such as the package A distance education program and good communication between the school, the parents and community, are needed to overcome this challenge. The head of the provincial education office commented as follows:
'A school principal reported to me that a child was absent from school because he was helping his parents to find gaharu wood in the forest. Selling gaharu will provide money directly while taking school examinations would not provide any money. The school cannot do anything. In two months they can gain millions of rupiahs by selling gaharu' (Head of the provincial education office).
Currently there is no local solution to this issue. The informants made the following recommendations: • Improve community awareness about the importance of education for the future of their children and the state. This may be done in collaboration with local ethnic leaders. • Improve communication with the community by involving the community in school activities, such as forming parents' groups and family education strategies to support children studying at home (setting regular time daily for learning, playing, bedtime and so forth). A special task force can be created to monitor and support ‘community learning hours’. • Strengthen the character education program or family and community-based education. These programs aim to promote cooperation among schools, families and communities in preparing children to adapt to their environments.
School supervisors: Seven informants reported that school supervisors did not visit all their target schools. School supervisors are less likely to supervise schools located in remote areas due to budget constraints and difficult access. Findings from previous studies in Indonesia (ACDP 2014) noted that schools in rural and urban areas were supervised more frequently than schools in remote areas. According to the Ministry of Education decree no 15 of 2010 on minimum service standards in primary education in districts or cities, a school supervisor is required to visit schools once a month and visits should last for three hours each time. The purpose of the visit is to supervise and guide the schools, as well as conduct professional training for teachers, as mandated by Ministry of Education decree no 15 of 2018. Furthermore, supervisors were not fulfilling their role as mentors or coaches for the schools. Informants from PT Pesona Khatulistiwa Nusantara remarked that school supervisors do not understand their duties and functions. There is an assumption that: 'if one is tired of being a principal or a teacher, then one could move on to be a supervisor.' Schools with no supervision have higher rates of absenteeism and indiscipline among teachers.
33 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan No solution has yet been found for this issue. Informants recommended empowering school supervisors by improving their competence and providing transport to support their visits to schools, especially those located in remote areas. According to Ministry of Education decree no 15 of 2018, school supervisors should be able to plan, evaluate and report on the results of their school visits, as well as give guidance to teachers and school principals.
School access and geographical situation: Six informants mentioned that many remote villages, such as Peso Hilir in Malinau district, are difficult to reach and some schools can only be reached by a small boat (locally known as ketinting) and by walking several kilometres. The district of Malinau is the hardest location to reach. The trip to some schools is exhausting, as the Dean of Education at Borneo University reported:
' … with these really difficult conditions, we sacrifice our lives for a two-day trip in a small boat to teach people in remote areas. It's a boat ride through the rapids and many people have died there. We have a commitment but it is a challenging trip and we could fall out the boat … and with sharp rocks in the middle of the river, if the stone hits our chest, we die ...' (Dean, University of Borneo).
As a local solution, the provincial government has provided school buses, for example, in Tanjung Selor but the buses do not run in remote areas. The recommendation from the informants was to provide water transport since many remote areas can only be accessed by water.
Facilities and infrastructure: School facilities and infrastructure do not fulfil national education standards (Ministry of Education decree no 24 of 2007). According to the informant from the Education Quality Assurance Agency, school facilities and infrastructure in North Kalimantan are still far from the national standards. This is partly due to a lack of communication between the schools and the communities according to an informant from the School Systems and Quality program who commented:
'If there is no communication between the community and the school, then facilities and infrastructure of the school will not be improved.'
Participation of the community in school activities depends on the schools' ability to involve the community. An example of the potential of this collaboration is the community that built a 300-metre long bridge across the river and swamp to allow students to access their school (SDN 037). A previous study in Indonesia (ACDP 2014) found that involving school committees in monitoring school facilities can improve the schools’ performance. One function of a school committee, as stated in Ministry of Education decree no 75 of 2016, is to control and support agencies that contribute to improving schools' performance.
The provincial government can solve these issues locally by providing the facilities and infrastructure schools need, such as new classrooms, toilets for teachers and students, and school libraries. Informants further recommended that school facilities and infrastructure could be improved with community support.
Communication and internet; Limited access to telephone and internet networks was mentioned by four informants. Not all sub-districts in North Kalimantan have these networks and this limits teachers' opportunities to improve or develop their teaching skills. For example, teachers cannot access online learning for continuing professional development. Similarly, students cannot join the national online examination because they have no internet access. This creates an unequal situation since teachers and students living in the city have easy access to internet. Up to now no local solutions have been found for this challenge. The informants recommended that government approach the telecommunication providers to discuss and resolve this issue.
Communication among education stakeholders: A few informants said that communication was limited between the Education Quality Assurance Agency, the regional government operations department (OPD), teachers and schools. The lack of synergy on literacy policy among stakeholders was also noted
34 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan in the RPSA (2017). According to Ministry of Education decree no 75 of 2016, a school committee should be able to improve education quality and services by collaborating with parents, communities and stakeholders. However there is a lack of communication and collaboration between education stakeholders at the district level. Regional operations staff reportedly do not have a positive attitude towards literacy programs. An example cited was of an archives and mobile library program in Bulungan district that the education operations office did not even know about. This is due to no coordination across sectors. The informants recommended increasing communication between the various operations sections engaged in education by improving synergy and implementing joint activities.
Commitment to improving the quality of basic education: Heads of local government, such as governors, district heads and heads of operations lack commitment in synergising activities to improve basic education. One reason for this is that they focus on developing government facilities and infrastructure. The informants had no suggestions for local solutions on this issue.
Management and leadership skills of school principals: The success of schools is determined by the principals' management and leadership skills. According to Ministry of Education decree no 15 of 2010 on minimum service standards for basic education, principals should supervise classes and provide feedback to teachers twice a semester. However, the informants reported that only a few principals conduct class supervision and recommended that the district education office uses the principals' working groups to improve their competencies.
Data on students: There is no valid data available on education for students with special needs because the previous East Kalimantan province did not prepare a hand-over report (North Kalimantan was created after East Kalimantan province was expanded). The special education and services office is new so it does not yet have data on educational programs for children with special needs. The informants recommended the following: • Local government needs to identify and collect data on students with special needs so they can supply appropriate materials and facilities to the teachers and students concerned. • A program of socialisation on inclusive education should be conducted through the principals and teachers' working groups.
School assets: Many local governments have had difficulties in owning school assets because of land disputes with the local communities (as is the case of SMAN 2 in Bulungan). This makes it difficult for the districts to achieve the best audit score of 'reasonable unconditional status'. Currently there is no local solution to overcome this issue. The informants recommended that schools request assistance from the local government and improve communication with communities through school committees.
Local budgets: Five informants mentioned the problem of limited local budgets (Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Daerah – APBD). Budget constraints resulted in programs already listed in the strategic plan not being implemented. For example, there was no inclusive education training as planned and no inclusion schools have been identified in North Kalimantan. Also, the number of school supervisors' visits to the target schools is still not optimal due to high costs of transport. A trip to schools in remote areas in Malinau, for example, takes three to four days. Furthermore, the provincial government proritised 20 per cent of the budget for infrastructure, especially in remote areas of Tana Tidung district, thus leaving no budget to improve the quality of teaching.
The provincial government has worked with private companies to use their corporate social responsibility funds to provide scholarships for the best students to study outside Borneo or abroad. Among the partner universities are Gajah Mada, Diponegoro and universities in China. The informants recommended that schools encourage parents and communities to promote this scheme and suggest potential candidates.
35 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Literacy challenges and recommendations – North Kalimantan
The informants mentioned various challenges related to literacy, such as developing literacy skills, implementing literacy programs and securing a budget for literacy.
According to the provincial education office, the average literacy score in North Kalimantan province is still below 60 while the average score at the national level is almost 64. Low literacy skills at primary school have an impact on students' learning ability at the junior and senior secondary school levels. Since the enactment of Law no 32 of 2016, the budget for quality improvement and reading in primary and junior secondary schools can no longer be facilitated by the provincial government, this is now a district government responsibility. The provincial government is responsible for teachers at senior secondary and vocational schools as well as schools for children with special needs.
According to the informant from the provincial branch of the national teachers' union, literacy programs need to be improved to generate children’s interest in reading as their ability to read is generally weak. Furthermore teachers do not have the skills to teach literacy. While schools have started implementing the 15-minute reading time at the start of the school day, they do not have enough reading books for children for this activity. The secretary of the teachers' union commented as follows:
'The literacy program should be improved to encourage children’s interest in reading. In general, our children’s literacy is still low. This may be caused by the low capability of teachers in managing and implementing literacy programs at school. We have implemented the 15-minute reading time at schools but one of the barriers is the lack of books' (Secretary, teachers' union).
A representative from the corporate social responsibility program mentioned that the village literacy program of a reading park in Bukit Indah village may not be able to be sustained. No-one in the village is interested in taking on the work and continuing the program although the scheme has received many books. He was hoping that someone from outside the village may be prepared to come in and supervise the children.
A representative from the provincial quality assurance board noted that the provincial operations divisions need to change their perception of their role with regard to supporting teachers. Teachers feel that they are required to do active and creative teaching but without any support in terms of resources and facilities. If teachers are creative, they should not be limited by a lack of teaching aids and facilities.
Teachers generally do not use teaching aids or give the students the opportunity to practise their skills as they tend to use a tradtional lecture method for teaching.
The local provincial government has initiated the following activities to overcome some of these literacy challenges. 1. Expanding village-level libraries through the 'Village visit library' program funded by the provincial budget (APBD) to overcome the lack of books at the village level (Bappeda, North Kalimantan); 2. Improving communication and coordination among cross-sectoral operations divisions (LPMP, North Kalimantan); 3. Establishing the model school system for the literacy program where LPMP has selected schools from various levels using schools' quality reports; 4. Shifting the emphasis in implementing Curriculum 2013 to the application of literacy for basic education which was initiated by the teacher training faculty at the University of Borneo, Tarakan, as reflected in the following:
"... Oh yes yes. From our institution, we have directed school-based management starting from primary school – this is very important for literacy. The school-based curriculum and Curriculum 2013 have not really dealt with it substantively, so with the freedom given by the
36 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan ministry, our curriculum for the PGSD (primary school teacher program) should be geared towards literacy. They are given enough reading, writing and arithmetic, previously this was called "Calistung", and we in PGSD are progressing now towards literacy.'
Challenges to inclusion in North Kalimantan
Inclusive education means providing opportunities for students, regardless of their situation, to fully participate in education and the social experience offered by schools and to achieve results. The government is committed to improving the access to and quality of education for all students. This is stated in the 1945 constitution as well as through legislation and other documents underlying inclusive education, such as: Law no 20 of 2003 on the national education system, the Ministry of National Education's strategic plans (MoEC 2010, 2011); the Ministry of Religious Affairs' Grand design (2007) on the nine years of basic education; Ministry of Education regulation no 41 of 2007 on process standards for primary and secondary education units; and Ministry of Education regulation no 70 of 2009 on inclusive education.
Results of the interviews that relate to inclusion are as follows: 1. Five informants stated that there were no inclusive schools and that no teachers had been trained on inclusive education. 2. Schools for children with special needs are available at the district level according to a member of staff from the provincial education office:
“There are four special needs schools in North Kalimantan – in Tarakan city, Bulungan, Malinau and Nunukan districts – but there are no inclusive schools. Only one district, Tanah Tidung, does not have a special needs school. Socialisation of inclusive schools has been conducted at the four special needs schools, the education office and their branches' (Provincial education office staff member).
3. According to the provincial education office, data on children with special needs is currently being updated. Data transfer from the previous East Kalimantan provincial education office was not complete. Many local officials do not understand the concept of inclusive education. 4. Informants from the Education Quality Assurance Agency reported that many teachers cannot recognise or understand the characteristics of children with special needs because they have not had any training in inclusive education. 5. According to the provincial teachers' union, the regional education policy has not included inclusive education. Some children in Tanjung Selor, for example, have special needs but their parents are still embarrassed to include them in the special school so they keep them at home.
The informants made the following recommendations to overcome the inclusion issues. 1. We need to socialise the concept of inclusive education across all sectors involved; 2. Teachers need inclusive education training and this could be done by inviting competent resource persons in the field of inclusive education to present training courses and run workshops through the teachers, principals, supervisors and subject teachers' working groups.
Challenges related to gender and ethnicity in inland communities – North Kalimantan
Gender is a social construction created through the interaction of individuals and social institutions, including religious, family, school and community institutions. 1. The informants reported that there is no discrimination between males and females in the school or family settings. Similarly, they said that all students used the Indonesian language so there was no difference in the students' use of language. 2. During the harvest season, more girls go to school than boys:
37 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 'The higher the grade the more drop out. There are still many students in grades one, two and three but fewer in grades four and five, and at the junior secondary level. People in rural, remote and coastal areas prioritise economy over education. The students drop out from school because they help their parents to work. In these areas, there are more girls who have a better education than boys since more boys help their parents' (Head of the social and cultural section, Bappeda).
The RPSA (2017) also revealed that boys were more likely than girls to drop out of school. Out of North Kalimantan’s junior secondary students, 30 per cent do not continue to senior secondary level. The gross enrolment rates and net enrolment rates for Bulungan at the senior secondary level were 95 and 70 respectively, while for Malinau they were 81 and 61 respectively (MoEC 2015). The overall gross and net enrolment rates for North Kalimantan are 90 and 69, while for Indonesia they are 101 and 81. 3. Interest in learning among children in the border and inland areas is relatively high but they are faced with teachers who are often absent and an inadequate school infrastructure. 4. Parents and communities in the inland areas have little awareness about the importance of education. Although traditional leaders have raised this issue, the rural communities argue that economics is more important than education. 5. There are too few frontline teachers with only 40 in the province which is not enough for the whole area. The distribution of teachers was unequal with some areas at a disadvantage. 6. Teachers in rural and border areas tended to be undisciplined. 7. Teachers and students have difficulty in accessing information due to lack of an internet network. 8. The levels of literacy among primary students in these inland areas is low. 9. The Punan ethnic groups are nomads and move from one place to another in search of food which makes it difficult for their children to complete their studies. 10. The inadequate school facilities and infrastructure affect the quality of learning.
The provincial government has implemented the following solutions to overcome issues related to gender and ethnicity in education: 1. Establishing distance education classes through the package A and B program and adjusting the schedule to suit the community (taking into account the planting or hunting seasons); 2. Implementing multi-grade learning, especially implemented in the village of Peso Hilir, where teachers teach more than one grade in the same classroom; 3. Recruiting teachers from the local rural community who have graduated from senior secondary or vocational schools; 4. Providing funds from the regional budgets to eradicate illiteracy; 5. Strengthening the character education program and education based on the family and community; 6. Training teachers in remote schools on Curriculum 2013 in a program especially adapted to the context and based on the Education Quality Assurance Agency’s quality mapping; 7. Sending university students to remote areas for their teaching practice and for other community projects organised through the social action internships for advanced students program or the field experience practice scheme at the University of Borneo, Tarakan.
Priority actions by the provincial government
Seven out of eight informants said that local governments should prioritise developing their districts' human resources. Five out of eight informants mentioned infrastructure and facilities (Table 19). Through the Presidential Instruction no 9 year of 2000 on gender mainstreaming in national development, all ministries or agencies in the provincial, district and city governments are obliged to mainstream gender in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating policies and programs.
38 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Table 19: Three priority actions for education in North Kalimantan
Three priority issues Key informant Lack of human resources, especially teachers First assistant, provincial The quality of human resources is low education office Inadequate facilities and infrastructure The quality of human resources is low Staff member, provincial Inadequate facilities and infrastructure education office Lack of support from community Access to schools is limited and uneven The quality of human resources is low Representative from the Access to schools is limited teachers' union based in the Geographical factors province The quality of human resources is low Representative from the The education operations section does not fulfil its role provincial education board The performance of school supervisors is not up to standard The quality of human resources is low Representative from Learning quality is low Bappeda Lack of support from parents and community The quality of human resources is low Representative from PT. PKN Principals lack leadership skills (CSR) The performance of school supervisors is not up to standard Lack of family and community support Head of administration Poor communication between schools, communities and education division, LPMP offices Inadequate facilities and infrastructure The quality of human resources is low University of Borneo Inadequate facilities and infrastructure Teacher have few incentives
Partnerships in North Kalimantan
As schools build strong partnerships with teachers, parents and communities, all parties can work together to share information, guide students and solve problems. By developing these partnerships schools can promote respect, trust and cooperation among stakeholders and influence the school environment in general. A partnership is considered positive when it can improve the school’s programs and learning climate. Partnerships provide services and support to learners and communities, as well as improve leadership and skills among parents and communities.
The provision of the scholarships (Kaltara Cerdas) and a boarding house for inland children who attend secondary school in Tanjung Selor (the provincial capital) are examples of the partnership with private industry, PT Pesona Khatulistiwa Nusantara (PKN). Another example is the schools' cooperation with the INOVASI program, carrying out the literacy pilot project in three schools located in urban, rural and inland areas.
39 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 4.2 BULUNGAN DISTRICT
Education quality – stakeholders’ perception in Bulungan
Government instruction no 19 of 2005 states that the national education standards should be used as the basis for planning, implementing and supervising education. This is to guarantee an equal quality of education nationally. Education quality must fulfil all elements listed in the national standards. Thus all stakeholders, especially those implementing policy, need to understand the standards. Any misunderstanding may result in inappropriate policies that do not improve the quality of education.
This section records the results of stakeholders interviews that relate to education quality in Bulungan district. All informants in Bulungan district agreed that quality education needs to fulfil the standards for: teaching processes, competence of graduates and teachers, as well as infrastructure and facilities. None of the informants suggested that quality education should fulfil all eight of the national standards of education. We recommend that education stakeholders, the Education Quality Assurance Agency and other relevant institutions discuss the issue of quality education to create awareness and change people's ideas about quality education and the use of school benchmarking as a reference.
Education challenges, solutions and recommendations – Bulungan
We gathered ideas about the challenges to education quality from the interviews. The team categorised the challenges into several groups, namely, those related to teachers, students, assets, communication, skills and budgets. The 13 challenges cited in Bulungan were: the quality of teachers; teachers' certification; teachers' benefits; the distribution of teachers; grades attained; parent and community support; access to schools; facilities and infrastructure; stakeholders' commitment; data; managment skills; assets; and budgets. To overcome some of these challenges, the district government of Bulungan has found some local solutions. Furthermore, the informants shared their recommendations for follow-up actions.
Quality of teachers: The low quality of teachers and especially their limited pedagogical competence is a challenge. This includes their inability to recognise and cater for children with special needs. Teachers generally need to be more creative and innovative in the classroom. Some teachers are reluctant to improve their teaching skills while others have been denied opportunities for training due to limited places and late registration.
One informant from the private sector (CSR PKN) who had experience in organising training for teachers (learning methods training at SDN 06 in Tanjung Selor) said that we need a system to encourage teachers to improve their skills. He understood the challenge in maintaining teachers' motivation for training or their willingness to implement lessons learnt in the classroom. He stated the following:
'In my opinion, there is a gap in teachers' capabilities. Their competence must be similar first before we can teach learning methods. I had experience in conducting training for teachers at two primary schools and not all teachers were present in the training. More teachers came in the first days but then only the active ones stayed. That is why we could not continue our program in other primary schools. Some teachers had the opinion that training was not important for them. They were not ready to learn about new technology and they did not want to attend training outside office hours.'
All informants agreed that teachers’ competencies need to be improved. In the policymakers' focus group discussion, one participant said:
40 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 'The key to a good education is the teacher – it is the most important aspect. From our observation, our weakness in the education sector is the low quality of our human resources. Teachers lack the motivation to improve themselves. It is clear that the local government does not provide adequate training for teachers. However, this could be mediated by using the social media, the internet or registering for online courses. When teachers are highly motivated and have a strong work ethic, then we can hope for quality students.'
Teachers do not have sufficient pedagogical knowledge for effective learning in the classroom. Most of them use the lecture method in teaching the children and lack any creativity. Without supervision, some teachers also drifted from the original lesson plans. Teachers who have attended training on teaching skills do not necessarily share their knowledge with their colleagues. This is in line with the views that came up in the focus group discussion with practitioners:
'Teachers who attended Curriculum 13 training were taught how to make a lesson plan. They could do this during the training but they stopped doing it once the training was over and gave the task to other teachers. With a lack of supervision to monitor the implementation of teaching practices in the classroom, the skills learnt in training are not practised any more. The understanding of literacy is different among teachers – they think literacy is only the ability to read and write. The senior teachers have little motivation to learn something new because they will soon retire' (Focus group discussion, practitioner, Bulungan).
Bulungan district has implemented the following local solutions to overcome education challenges: • Training on Curriculum 2013 for teachers and school principals; and • Empowering teachers' working groups to improve teachers' competencies.
The informants recommended that relevant stakeholders take the following actions: • Coordinate with school principals to ensure they supervise the teaching and learning interaction in their classrooms; • Promote active and innovative teaching methods among teachers; • Organise training jointly with the INOVASI program for approximately 25 teachers' cluster groups; • Organise workshops to improve teachers' motivation and creativity.
Teacher certification: A few informants observed that some teachers have no certification because they have not passed the teachers' competency tests. According to Ministry of Education data, only 37.6 per cent of primary school teachers have certification (MoEC 2018). The district government has pursued the following local solutions: • Scholarships for teachers who want to upgrade to bachelor's degree level through the Indonesian Open University; • Training on Curriculum 2013 for teachers.
Further recommendations by the informants were: • Empowering teachers' working groups to improve teachers’ competencies; • Capacity building for teachers.
Teachers' benefits: Teachers in remote areas do not have inadequate benefits. The costs of living and transport is high in remote areas, such as Peso and Peso Hilir village, and this affects teachers' working hours at school since they often have to earn additional income through farming activities. There was no local solution suggested to tackle this issue.
Distribution of teachers: Schools in the cities have too many teachers while schools in remote areas do not have enough. Many teachers refuse to be assigned to remote areas. This came up in the focus group discussion with practitioners:
41 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 'In my opinion, there is inequality in teachers’ distribution. Some schools have many teachers while others have only a few. This happens because some teachers who are assigned to remote areas move back to the city. They stay there for two, three or perhaps 12 months and then propose to move' (Focus group discussion, practitioner, Bulungan).
As local solutions, the district government has organised the following: • Frontline teachers for the schools in remote areas; and • Incentives for teachers in these schools.
Grades attained: The average grades attained by graduates in Bulungan is lower than the national average. The national average score in the national mathematics examination for senior secondary level students was 38.28 while for Bulungan it is 30.71. It is not surprising that senior secondary school graduates from Bulungan could not enrol in universities in Java. The incidence of early marriages in remote areas also increases school drop-out rates. Results from the RSPA 2017 showed that more students who reside in remote areas have early marriages.
As part of the local solutions, the district government has organised training on Curriculum 2013 for teachers and principals. Further recommendations from the informants included: • Teacher capacity building, for example on how to assess students’ achievement based on Curriculum 2013; • Ensuring teachers use active and innovative learning methods; and • Empowering teachers' working groups to improve teachers' competencies.
Parents and community support: Most informants felt that parents and communities were not aware of the importance of education and so they did not participate much in school activities. Parents also do not supervise their children’s education at home, especially in remote villages. The lack of electricity made it difficult for students to study at home, as in the case of Peso and Peso Hilir villages. However, the schools did not communicate effectively with the parents and the school committees were not functioning. This failure to communicate with parents and communities can detract from education development and affect literacy levels. The comment by the head of the education commission supports these views:
'There is a perception of people in remote areas that school is not important. I see that education is just a complement for them. They think that after finishing school they will go to the forest (to look for gaharu wood and sell it) with their friends who had dropped out from school earlier. So why should I finish school when I can start earning money now? The result would be the same. This perception is still found today' (Head of education commission II)
In principle, every school is obliged to have a school committee that consists of parents, teachers and community representatives. The study found that almost all school committees had been formed but there were no activities (no committee meetings). This is in line with a comment made in the policymakers' focus group discussion:
'Education is not only the responsibility of teachers but also of the parents and the community. We have a problem of neutralising the side effect of technology such as social media and TV. We would like to prevent students from using them but we don’t want to make them miserable either. It also depends on the policy at home. Sometimes their parents are not strict on these issues and do not have time to study with their children' (Focus group discussion, policymaker, Bulungan).
The informants recommended the following ways to mediate this issue: • Improve communication with the community by empowering the school committees and • Collaborate with the private sector (CSR) to support school programs.
42 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
Access to schools: Some informants mentioned the geographical difficulty of accessing schools. Some schools have to be accessed by damaged roads, through rivers and on foot for several kilometres. As a consequence, the shortage of teachers remains a challenge in these remote areas as many teachers refuse to be assigned there. Informants suggested collaborating with the private sector and using the CSR funds to improve accessibility.
School facilities and infrastructure: Most informants stated that school facilities and infrastructure do not comply with the national standards of education. School buildings and facilities do not fulfill the minimum service standards set out by the Ministry of Education decree no 15 of 2010 and the situation is worse in the rural areas (ACDP 2014) So schools with better facilities are likely to be in urban locations while schools with poor facilities are likely to be in remote areas. In the cities, the students have too many materials to bring to school. Most students are not introduced to the school library.
Currently, no local solutions have been suggested for these issues. The recommendations from the informants were: • Collaborate with the private sector (CSR) to support school programs and • Improve coordination between stakeholders in education such as school committees, teachers, principals and supervisors.
Commitment among stakeholders: Informants in the focus group discussions raised the issue of a lack of communication and collaboration between education stakeholders at the district level. The school committees do not work in accordance with the Ministry of Education decree no 75 of 2016, which says they should focus on increasing quality and education services by collaborating with parents, communities and stakeholders. Currently, each stakeholder is working independently. Thus, the district government and education stakeholders need a strong commitment to improving standards and a synergetic approach. The informants also recommended improving coordination between stakeholders in education such as school committees, teachers, principals and supervisors.
Data on children with special needs: There was no handover of data or activity records on children with special needs when the new province of North Kalimantan was set up. There is one school for children with special needs in Bulungan which previously belonged to East Kalimantan province. Currently there is no school that can provide the curriculum, learning methods, shadow teachers, trained teachers and supporting facilities for inclusive education in Bulungan. However, some schools accept students with special needs. Implementing such schools is stated in the law, as the head of the district teachers' union said: 'Every school should accept students with special needs because that’s how the education system is meant to be.'
Most schools did not know how inclusive schools were set up and teachers have not attended inclusive training. This is in line with a statement from a practitioner in the focus group discussion:
'I don’t understand about inclusive schools. I have one student with special needs in my school but he was never taken to a psychologist and we have no records. He is now in grade two but still unable to read and he cannot recognise the alphabet. His friends are now in grades four or five. We keep teaching him but he is unable to understand.'
The recommendation from the informants was to use teachers and principals' working groups to familiarise them with the principles behind inclusive education.
Management and leadership skills: Effective leadership can determine teachers' motivation and the quality of teaching. School principals need management and leadership skills if their school is going to perform well. Currently, these skills tend to be lacking. Other skills that leaders need are communication, organisation and team work. Referring to the Ministry of National Education decree no 13 of 2007 on standards for school
43 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan principals, there are five groups of competencies that principals require, namely: personality, management, academic supervision, social skills and monitoring. However, few principals have these skills in Bulungan.
Currently, no local solutions are in place to overcome this issue. The informants suggested that principals should be able to supervise and observe teaching and learning interaction in the classroom and evaluate lesson plans as well as ensure teachers use active and innovative learning methods.
School assets: The ownership of some school land is disputed by the community, making it difficult for the government to allocate funds for development. No local solution or recommendation has been identified so far on this issue.
Budget: All informants agreed that limited budget allocations inhibit the quality of education. The main spending on education from the local government budget is on infrastructure. Less priority is given to improving teachers' skills or raising the quality of education. Budget limitations also affect the supervisory and monitoring visits to remote villages such as Peso and Peso Hilir villages, due to high transport costs. Some informants reported that supervisory activities are limited to once or twice a year and could not cover all target schools.
As a local solution, the district has provided incentives for teachers. A further recommendation from the interviewees was to collaborate with the private sector (CSR) to secure funds to support school programs.
As the head of the teachers' union said, budget allocations for education should be 20 per cent of the total local government budget according to the law (Law no 20 of 2003, article 49.1) The budget should be divided into structural budget, salary, facilities, infrastructure and honorarium. As an example, non-permanent teachers received IDR 1,800,000 as a fee from Bulungan district and IDR500,000 from the province. However, the head of the Bulungan district office stated that the current education budget is only 7–8 per cent of the APBD budget:
'According to the North Kalimantan governor’s regulation (no 188.44/K.27 of 2017) the budget for education should be 10 per cent of the total budget – 5 per cent from village fund allocations and another 5 per cent from district funds. Thus, a total of 10 per cent for education and health or human resources development. However, the village community empowerment office did not know the amount of budget allocated to improve the quality of education because the budget recapitulation is with the Bappeda office' (Head, district office,Bulungan).
However, the district is highly committed to allocating budget for education:
“Our commitment is to allocate 20 per cent of APBD budget for education, but we are still focusing on infrastructure' (Head of human resources development, Bappeda).
We asked the key informants to identify the three top challenges for education in Bulungan and six out of seven informants cited the quality of teachers and infrastructure as part of their list (Table 20).
Table 20: Three priority actions for education in Bulungan
Three top challenges Key informants Unequal distribution of teachers Head of basic education, district Low competence of teachers, including pedagogical skills education office Inadequate facilities and infrastructure Unequal distribution of teachers Village community empowerment Lack of infrastructure and equipment office Low competence of teachers, including in pedagogical skills Commission II, district legislative body Inadequate facilities and infrastructure
44 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Lack of support from parents and community Development of infrastructure Teachers' union Low competence of teachers, including in pedagogical skills Low competence of teachers, including in pedagogical skills Local government assistant Lack of infrastructure and equipment Lack of teaching aids/unattractive learning methods Low competence of teachers, including in pedagogical skills Focus group dicussions for Inadequate infrastructure and equipment practitioners Inadequate number of teachers Unequal distribution of teachers Lack of teaching aids Low competency of school principal Low performance of school supervisors No promotion for non-civil servant teachers Low competence of teachers, including in pedagogical skills Focus group dicussions for Low motivation of teachers policymakers Teachers' welfare is inadequate (especially in remote areas) Lack of creative teaching methods Limited allocation of provincial budget for education Limited involvement of parents and the community
Nine provincial and district government regulations are relevant for education (Table 21). In addition, the district has a regulation on scholarships.
Table 21: Educational policies in Bulungan
Policy Annotation North Kalimantan Governor's Budget allocation for districts in North Kalimantan for 2017 decree no 188.44/K.27 of 2017 North Kalimantan Governor's Budget allocation for districts in North Kalimantan for 2016 decree no 188.44/K.524 of 2015 North Kalimantan Governor's Budget allocation for districts in North Kalimantan for 2015 decree no 188.44/K.08 of 2015 Local regulation no 13 of 2014 Free education for primary and junior secondary schools Bulungan district regulation no 5 Village fund allocation of 2017 Bulungan district regulation no 4 Disbursement of village funds of 2017 Bulungan district regulation no Revision of district regulation on use of village funds for 19 of 2017 2017/Revised Bulungan district regulation No 4 of 2017 Bulungan district decree no Operational funds for schools in Bulungan district in 2017 229/K-III/900 of 2017 District regulation no 28 of 2017 Guidelines granting scholarships for North Kalimantan
The informants mentioned eight schools that use best practices in Bulungan district. Four schools practised interactive learning and three schools have an environmentally-friendly reputation (Adiwiyata predicate)17 (Table 22).
17 A predicate is given to schools that fulfils the national criteria as an environmentally-friendly school
45 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
Table 22: Schools with best practices in Bulungan
Name of school Best practices SD 02 East Tanjung • Adiwiyata school Palas • Green school SDN 06 Tanjung Selor • Adiwiyata school • Attractive teaching aids and methods • Literacy movement (bookshelves in the corner of the class, reading tree) SDN 013 Bulu perindu • Access bridge to the school, financed by the community • Formation of two reading parks • Improved school management • Creation of school library • Interactive teaching method SDN 09 Tanjung Selor Adiwiyata school SDN 05 East Tanjung Good communication between school and the community; Palas community learning centre SD Paramitha Good teaching approach, emphasising the value of diversity SD 01 Tanjung Selor • Creative teaching methods and teaching aids • Literacy movement • Learning by playing approach SMP 1 Tanjung Selor Moving class system
Literacy challenges and recommendations – Bulungan
The informants identified literacy challenges as well as local solutions and recommendations to overcome these challenges. 1. Some informants explained that teachers have a different understanding about literacy and how to read meaningfully. 2. An informant from the teachers' union believed that literacy and numeracy are not prioritised and so the students' capability is still below the national average. The literacy rate for Indonesian students is ranked at 64 out of 65 countries (PISA 2010). 3. Interest in reading, writing and counting among students in grades one to three is still limited (as mentioned by the secretary of the education board). The national percentage of students who like to read a book is only 18.94 per cent (MoE 2017). 4. Some primary schools in Bulungan have implemented ‘reading habits’, that is a daily reading time of 15 minutes. However, the challenge is the availability of enough reading books for children. 5. Classroom learning is not supported by teaching aids or interactive practices.
Local solutions and practices identified by the informants were: 1. Creating special reading spaces, such as reading corners or reading parks; 2. Using an old boat (katinting) port as a reading park in Bulu Perindu village – the park is managed by the school committee, teachers and headmaster of SDN 013; 3. Setting up a literacy drive facilitated by the teachers' unions, like the boundary teachers' community; 4. Including a budget allocation from the regional schools' operational funds to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Currently, this budget can be used to purchase five books with five different titles.
The informants made the following suggestions to overcome these literacy challenges: 1. Implement active learning approaches for teachers (INOVASI program);
46 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 2. Organise training for approximately 25 teacher clusters (INOVASI program); 3. Organise literacy and numeracy workshops on curriculum, teaching materials, learning methods and learning evaluation; 4. Establish or strengthen the law on corporate social responsibility funds so that they can support educational programs and, specifically, literacy and numeracy.
Challenges to inclusion and recommendations – Bulungan
All informants stated that there were no inclusive schools in the district. North Kalimantan province has four special schools, one in each district except for Tana Tidung district. Some informants also accepted that the lack of knowledge about inclusive education is due to teachers not being trained on inclusive education. Students with special needs are nevertheless enrolled in some regular schools which is the law, as cited earlier.
The informants recommended conducting socialisation campaigns on inclusive education among the various stakeholders and running training workshops for teachers. According to Ministry of Education decree no 70 of 2009 on inclusive schools, we must ensure that teachers can facilitate learning for children with special needs in their classes.
Gender and ethnic challenges and recommendations – Bulungan
The informants identified the following gender and ethnic challenges: 1. Most informants stated that there was limited awareness of the importance of education among rural ethnic communities. They do not see education as a priority for them. The RPSA (2017) revealed that boys are more likely than girls to drop out of school since they tended to help their parents during the planting or hunting seasons. Thus, more girls attend school at these times. However, teachers still try to resolve this issue by offering extra study hours for students after the planting or harvesting season. As one informant said:
'Teachers offer additional study hours for children in remote areas. The extra lessons are usually given after school because the school cannot force the students to come to school when their parents say they need them (Head of the education commission II, DPR). 2. Teachers also try to strengthen the character education or community and family-based education programs, for example, organising study hours in children’s homes at night with their parents. 3. Teachers as well as students in remote areas have to deal with their limited access to information and the lack of transport. Teachers located in the border areas were considered less disciplined which may be due to the lack of monitoring and supervision. The common reasons for teachers being absent included: schools are hard to access; transport costs are high; the incentives offered are insignificant; the rainy season exacerbates the access issues; the need for additional income (they join the community working in the fields); and no supervision from school supervisors. These issues are reflected in the following quote from the focus group discussion:
'In my opinion, the inequality of teachers’ distribution is found here. Many teachers are assigned to remote areas for two or three months and then they propose to move to another area or city, after which they do not want to come back' (Focus group discussion, practitioner, Bulungan).
4. Some local solutions have been implemented, such as: recruiting local senior secondary or vocational school graduates (although they may be underqualified) from the inland communities to become teachers; finding substitute teachers from voluntary learning classes through the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples (AMAN) or appointing university students participating in the social action internships for advanced students (Kuliah Kerja Nyata) to be teachers as part of their work experience.
47 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
5. No gender preference was reported in schools. Boys and girls are treated equally and have the right to the same education opportunities. However, more girls attended school during the planting or harvesting seasons. 6. The performance of school supervisors is not optimal due to many issues, such as their lack of supervisory skills and the limited support they receive for transport, especially to visit remote areas. 7. The facilities and infrastructure at many schools is inadequate, for example many schools have no library, not enough reading books for children, broken chairs and tables, and no teaching aids.
The informants identified the following local solutions for these gender and ethnic issues in inland areas: 1. Building a students’ dormitory near the primary school for students living too far from the school. However one dormitory built was never occupied because the support did not include living costs for the students, which was a bigger part of the expenses. The informants suggested establishing distance learning programs; 2. Establishing 'one-roof' schools in remote communities where primary and junior secondary schools share the school facilities and equipment; 3. Having two or three teachers organise home study classes for children and adults once or twice a week in rural areas; 4. Ensuring that students attend the voluntary learning classes organised by AMAN; 5. Providing additional study hours for children in remote areas who miss school during regular hours; 6. Recruiting local teachers from inland communities (senior secondary school or vocational school graduates); 7. Strengthening the character education program and the community and family-based education programs; 8. Appointing university students who are participating in social action internships for advanced students as teachers in remote areas.
The role of teachers' working groups – Bulungan
There are approximately 25 teachers' working group clusters in the 10 sub-districts of Bulungan. However, only a few of these groups are active, namely: Teratai, Handayani, Dua East Tanjung Palas and North Tanjung Palas. The groups meet once a semester (twice a year) to prepare for the end of semester tests. Teachers are currently not motivated to attend these meetings but they have the potential to become a forum for sharing new knowledge and skills with fellow teachers.
According to the provincial teachers' union, teachers' working group monthly meetings are conducted within clusters but they tend to be limited to discussing the weaknesses of each school. Supervisors attend these meetings to help broaden the teachers' perspectives. About 75 per cent of the groups are active but monthly meetings are not feasible in areas in difficult locations. Practitioners in the focus group discussion proposed that teachers' working groups need to have an active leader to reactivate the meetings. Some working groups have been inactive for two to three years but as a communication forum, they need to meet routinely. It is recommended that training to improve the quality of teachers should be organised through the teachers' working group. These groups receive IDR500,000 per semester, allocated from the local schools operational grant (BOSDA).
Partnerships – Bulungan
This section focuses on two partnerships or joint activities: the development planning meetings and the corporate social responsibility program.
48 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Development planning meeting, Tanjung Selor sub-district
The research team managed to observe a development planning meeting (Musrenbang) organised by the Tanjung Selor sub-district. Various organisations were represented at the meeting, including the district operations division (OPD), the private sector (CSR), the police and the army. For the first time, a representative from the women's empowerment and child protection office also attended. The meeting opened with a presentation from a children’s forum that expressed their aspirations for a safe playground in Tanjung Selor sub-district. The presentation was appreciated by all participants.
In total 129 education-related work plans were submitted to the meeting. Two plans proposed training programs for primary and early childhood teachers. A total of 11 infrastructure-related work plans were approved and would be financed in 2018 (through the special education allocation). A further 15 work plans were submitted for funding from the special education budget but the schools first needed to complete their online basic education data (DAPODIK). The other work plans could not be accommodated by the district education office. The district education officer commented:
'We had requested an education budget from the regional people's assemby (DPRD) in 2017. It was a disappointment. DPRD stated that the budget is limited. For example, one of our sections, the culture department, received IDR350 million in a year for three programs. Therefore, we are depending on the special education allocation. We told the schools to complete their data (DAPODIK) so that they can receive a renovation budget. The work plan budget from Musrenbang always proposes spending on education facilities or infrastructure – never on improving the quality of education through, for example, teacher training and teaching aids. We always invest in buildings' (District education officer, Bulungan).
Corporate social responsibility program
Seven industries supported educational programs in Bulungan district through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. Two companies provided infrastructure such as school buildings, one provided computer equipment, two provided support for human resources and we have no details about the projects funded by the other two (Table 23).
Table 23: Activities sponsored by the corporate social responsibility program in Bulungan
Company Activities Support for state primary schools (SDN) 06 and 002 in Tanjung Selor Pesona Khatulistiwa in the form of training for teachers (topics: learning methods) Nusantara (PKN) Support for state primary schools around the Peso Hilir area by Kayan Makmur Sejahtera providing teachers (KMS)
Support for early childhood education, kindergarten and primary Kayan Patria Pratama schools in the form of school buildings at Binai, Sajau Pura, Sajau Group (KPP) Metun, Tanah kuning and East Tanjung Palas sub-districts
Bank Rakyat Indonesia Support for SDN 013 in the form of provision of a laptop computer and (BRI) printer for the school's operational use
Pertamina Not specified Intraka Not specified Lanindo Not specified
49 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 4.3 MALINAU DISTRICT
Education quality – stakeholders’ perception in Malinau
Government regulation no 19 of 2005 states that the national education standards should be used as the basis for planning, implementing and supervising education to guarantee the quality of education nationwide. All items mentioned in the standards need to be fulfilled so stakeholders, especially those implementing policies, need to be familiar with these standards and be able to translate them to the situation on the ground. As stated previously, any misunderstanding can result in inappropriate or ineffective policies.
Five out of the eight informants in Malinau district stated that quality education is education that is supported by various elements, such as students, qualified teachers, school principals, supervisors and the government. They also mentioned that quality education requires optimal infrastructure and facilities.
Challenges in education, solutions and recommendations – Malinau
The main challenges in primary education in Malinau relate to human resources, schools' accessibility, community awareness and implementing policies. The study identified at least 15 challenges for education in Mulinau: teachers' commitment; teachers' competence; the distribution of teachers; schools' accreditation; school supervisors; human resources; maintaining the standard of school graduates; parents' awareness; access; infrastructure and facilities; policy implementation; education standards; education council; data, and drugs and alcohol.
Teachers' commitment: Half of the informants raised the issue of some teachers' lack of commitment that was evident in lateness, poor discipline, high absenteeism and using mobile phones during classes. To improve their commitment, the informants recommended strengthening the roles of school principals and supervisors.
Teachers' competence: Most informants in the discussions and interviews reported that many teachers do not have a bachelor's degree (S1/D4), especially in remote areas. Teachers who are junior secondary or senior secondary school graduates do not have the ability to implement effective learning activities. Furthermore, many teachers are not motivated to improve their skills, having found their ‘comfort zone’ and they are reluctant to explore creative approaches to teaching. The head of the teachers' union made the following observation:
'We just do not want to get out of our comfort zone. That's the problem. Why I do I say this? Well, we all know that education is developing really fast and if a teacher does not make the effort to anticipate this progress, in the sense of learning new approaches that follow developments in education, he will be left behind. Yet in teaching and assessing the children, they still use the old methods. They just take the easy way. That's the basic issue I see in Malinau district' (Head of the teachers' union).
As a local solution, the district government drew up an agreement with some universities so that teachers can complete their studies and gain bachelor's degrees. In addition, government provided scholarships for undergraduates in remote, border and hinterland areas. The scholarship holders are expected to return to their areas to teach. This will help solve some of the issues with teachers in these areas. The informants did not suggest any other solutions. The suggestion that teachers enrol for Indonesia Open University courses would have been a good option for teachers to upgrade their qualifications but this requires an efficient internet network to support their studies which is not available in most remote areas.
Some informants confirmed that the limited education budget available also limits training activities for teachers. Teachers' attendance at training events is also inhibited by the lack of budget allocation since ceremonial activities are prioritised over professional development. Training organised by the local government commonly takes place in the cities and not in the remote areas.
50 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan The local solution that the district has implemented is to concentrate on teachers attending Curriculum 2013 training. However this only concerns a small number of teachers. Informants had no other suggestions to tackle this issue. We recommend improving the competence of supervisors and giving them the responsibility of supporting teachers and improving their competence.
Distribution of teachers: Most informants reported that most teachers do not want to be posted to remote, border or hinterland areas and, when they are, they usually do not stay long. The problems teachers face include: low renumeration, high transport costs, no communication network and no entertainment facilities. The consequence is high absenteeism rates for both teachers and students. According to OECD (2015) the rates of teacher absenteeism in Mulinau are among the highest with the highest proportion of children not at school. The secretary of the regional people's assembly shared this concern:
'During my monitoring visit to Paking sub-district, about an hour from Malinau, I found grade five students who cannot read. In another area, Mentarang Hulu, in the border area, no students go to school there. That’s the situation. It is difficult to find committed and dedicated teachers who will stay in remote or border areas' (Secretary, education commission I, Malinau).
The district government has implemented the following local solutions: • An additional honorarium for teachers in remote, border and hinterland areas; • Recruiting teachers locally so they are more likely to stay in remote areas. As an additional recommendation, we suggest that the district government provides better communications and internet networks and improves transport services in these areas.
Schools' accreditation: The school accreditation process and results need to be accountable. However, this process and the results are not always reliable in the field. For example, one school was given a grade A plus rating although it is in a worse condition than the other schools. This can happen when the accreditation personnel do not conduct a thorough physical check. Currently, there is no local solution for this issue. We recommend that the district education office actively participates in evaluating schools that appear to be overrated or unfairly judged.
School supervisors: Problems related to school supervisors are caused by an inadequate recruitment process and a lack of awareness of the responsibilities of these posts. In the interviews we were told that someone can become a school supervisor without any clear selection process. The positions can even be filled by teachers who do not perform well. One informant pointed out that supervisors can make school visits without conducting any supervision of the principal or teachers and yet the supervisor is being paid to do this job. The head of the education board also raised this issue:
'The role of school supervisors is limited. They work according to a monitoring plan but when there is no plan, they just do not visit schools. This method is not effective. I wish that school supervisors would guide the school principals and teachers, mentoring them on developing lesson plans or managing schools’ finances. This is the role of a school supervisor, not just visiting schools about twice in a year' (Head of the education board, Malinau).
Currently, no local solutions have been put in place and informants did not make any suggestions on this issue. We recommend that the local education office gives the supervisors' working groups in Malinau the mandate to improve supervisors’ competence in carrying out their role.
Human resources: The informants reported that staff placements in the district education office were often inadequate and inappropriate, resulting in staff not being able to fulfil their functions. This topic also came up in the discussions when participants reported that teachers' honorariums were disbursed late due to the incompetence of staff. No local solution is yet in place to resolve this issue but we recommend appointing officers based on their merit and performance.
51 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
Maintaining the standard of school graduates: The informants brought up a case from a few years ago when a student who was not eligible was awarded a primary school certificate. They felt, however, that the incompetencies of the students were caused by the incompetencies of the teachers. There is no local solution offered to overcome this issue and the informants once again suggested the need to improve teachers’ competencies. Competent teachers will raise the quality of student learning and ultimately the quality of the graduates.
Parents' awareness: Parents have little awareness about the importance of education. Children often have to leave school to assist their parents and communities during the harvest season and even when they are at school, the parents do not encourage their children to study at home. Early marriages are still an issue in some areas, particularly when people stick to the tradition of several families living in one long house. Another example is the parents' reluctance to contribute to their children's education since they believe that education is supposed to be free. This was captured in one of the focus group discussions:
'The root of the problem in education is the teachers' lack of pedagogical skills, that is their ability to interact with and teach students effectively. Furthermore, many parents do not manage study time for their children at home. Parents and families should have the awareness to discipline their children' (policymaker, Bulungan).
As a local solution, the government has developed the idea of communities having a shared responsibility for education, meaning they can report on and advise children who are not in school. We recommend involving the head of the ethnic groups to improve community awareness about the importance of education.
Access to schools: Two informants raised the issue of schools in remote, border and hinterland areas being difficult to get to. Some areas in Malinau can only be reached by air. Other areas can be reached by water and land – pulling a boat through shallow water and then continuing on foot. Motorcycles or cars are not available in these areas.
The district has implemented a local solution by providing lifts to schools in remote areas. This strategy is implemented for the Punan, one of the Dayak ethnic groups living in remote areas. It is highly recommended that government improves the transport network to these locations.
Infrastructure and facilities: Some informants said that books and teaching aids are not available in remote areas due to high transport costs for equipment from Tanjung Selor. Many locations in the district do not have access to the internet or phone signals, limiting their access to information. Some informants, however, stated that the school buildings are in a satisfactory condition. As a local solution, the district government has collaborated with the private sector through the CSR program. This collaboration offers support for schools in the form of scholarships, infrastructure and facilities. We also recommend that the local government and communities build more reading parks, especially in remote areas.
Policy implementation: Implementing central government regulations is a slow process in Malinau. By the time they have implemented a regulation, central government has issued another regulation that they need to implement. There is no obvious local solution to overcome this issue except that the district education office should actively update schools on any education regulations and policies and ensure they act on these without any delay.
Education standards: Schools in Malinau have not fulfilled the eight national education standards. Some reasons for this relate to geographical factors, insufficient personnel and the lack of skilled human resources. Delivering equipment to difficult geographical areas is expensive and it is hard to retain teachers and other personnel in these areas. These factors have a negative impact on the overall quality of education. Currently, no local solutions have been found to overcome this issue and the informants made no specific suggestions although this issue overlaps with others raised in the study.
52 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
Education council: Currently the education council is not active in the district and so cannot contribute to the development of education. No local solutions have been implemented or suggested for this although the council needs to be re-activated if it is to play its intended role.
Education data: Making decisions becomes a limited process when data is incomplete or out of date and this affects the quest to improve the quality of education in the district. No local solutions or recommendations were proposed for this challenge but until schools have access to effective communications and the internet, they will have difficulty in updating their information and creating a reliable database.
Drugs and alcohol: This is considered a serious issue among young people but no local solutions have been suggested to tackle this challenge. We recommend that the village development program, Gerderma, and the clean neighborhood program should include drug and alcohol issues in their activities.
We asked the informants to list priority actions based on the education challenges. Nine priority actions were identified by six key informants at the district level. Five mentioned the need to improve teachers' competence, three mentioned teachers' distribution and access to schools and one informant cited literacy and numeracy as top priority (Table 24).
Table 24: Priority actions for education in Malinau
Three priority actions Key informant Improve teachers' competence Teachers' union Posts at the education office need to be based on expertise Efficient disbursement of funding (BOS, BOSDA) and honorariums Improve teachers' competence Secretary, education Update educational data commission I Better distribution of teachers Appoint school principals based on competencies and qualifications Improve teachers' competence District head, Malinau Recruit more teachers Improve infrastructure and facilities Improve teachers' competence Head of education, division Increase parents and communities' awareness about the Bappeda importance of education Improve road access and transport to remote, border and Education board member hinterland areas Better distribution of teachers Literacy and numeracy Improve the quality of teachers in terms of their attitudes and their Head of primary education, teaching practices district education office Improve road access and transport to remote, border and hinterland areas Increase parents and communities' awareness of the importance of education
The head of Malinau district has issued several regulations to support education. Six regulations are described in Table 25, including the requirement for 16 years of education for children age 3 to 18 years and daily study time for students and communities.
53 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Table 25: Educational policies in Malinau
Regulation Title and explanation District head regulation Requirement for 16 years education – children aged 3–18 years are no 1 of 2017 required to attend school from early education to primary and secondary levels District head regulation Disbursement and budget for the clean and beautiful village no 5 of 2017 environment program in 2017 District head regulation Technical guide on reporting of the local schools operational funds no 39 of 2017 (BOSDA) for 2017 District head regulation Study time for students and communities in Malinau district no 14 of 2015 District head regulation Prohibition of smoking in school areas no 13 of 2015 Local regulation no 9 of Implementation of education in Malinau district 2013
Literacy challenges – Malinau
The issue of low literacy levels is caused by many factors. The informants mentioned the following literacy challenges: 1. Some students in grades three, four and five in remote areas still cannot read; 2. Limited understanding of the meaning of literacy. A representative of the teachers' union expressed the following view:
'There are school principals who do not understand because they have not been socialised on the issue of literacy. They think that literacy is a special book prepared by the government and given to schools. Whatever the sources – short stories, newspapers and so forth – these are important materials for teaching the children, a reading culture is very important for them. We are not talking about how to listen to readings – we are not there yet – we are just trying to get them interested in reading. That's it. So literacy issues are very problematic. People need to be socialised on the issue' (Teachers' union representative, Malinau);
3. Lack of textbooks; 4. Although Curriculum 13 has been implemented, many teachers do not know the best way to teach reading, writing and arithmetic in the lower grades, thus they rely on the traditional lecture method; 5. The education office has not yet paid serious attention to the literacy movement or program.
The following local solutions have been implemented to improve literacy: 1. Government has provided a mobile library bus that stays at a school for about three hours at a time but the program is still limited to urban areas; 2. The government is introducing 16 years of mandatory education starting from the pre-school level when teaching the alphabet and numbers can begin; 3. The clean neighbourhood program provides funds for teachers' honorariums and this can be used for teaching children the basic skills of reading, writing and counting. 4. Integrated Islamic primary schools have provided additional learning hours for students who still cannot read and write.
54 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Challenges to inclusive education – Malinau
The following challenges to inclusive education were mentioned by the informants. 1. No socialisation campaign has been carried out on inclusive education for principals, supervisors and teachers; 2. No teachers are trained to assist children with special needs; 3. No schools implement inclusive education, as the head of the district reported: 4. 'There is no inclusive school available here. If children with special needs enrol in a state school, other students will be uncomfortable. Teachers are also not prepared for inclusive education. All the special needs children go to the school for children with special needs' (District head);
5. Children with special needs have to go to special needs schools; 6. No sub-district data is available on the number of children with special needs and their educational status.
Providing a school bus for children with special needs was mentioned by the informants as one of the local solutions for inclusive education.
Challenges for minority groups, ethnic groups and gender – Malinau
The informants noted some aspects related to challenges for minority and ethnic groups living in remote areas. 1. There is no distinction on the basis of gender in education. However, during planting and harvesting, more girls attend school because more boys help their parents in the field; 2. There is no distinction related to ethnicity for those living in remote areas or for minority ethnic groups, except for the Punan who move from one place to another in search of food; 3. Education is not a priority in remote areas and many parents ask their children to help during the planting and harvest seasons; 4. While the government has built schools in remote areas, they are not well supported by communication networks and transport so many teachers are unwilling to teach in these areas.
Teachers making home visits to persuade children and their parents that they should attend school was mentioned as a possible solution to overcome some of the issues.
Teachers' working groups – Malinau
Teachers' working groups in Malinau are not routinely organised and not used as an effective platform to increase teachers' competence. The meetings are limited to sharing ideas between teachers and no resource person has ever been invited to guide the teachers or introduce new ideas. When training is offered, it usually takes place at central or provincial levels rather than at the district level. A teachers' union representative explained how teachers' working groups work in Malinau:
'We have teachers working groups and subject teachers' groups and so on. But the groups are often not functioning optimally. The subject teachers' groups, for example, share ideas and activities among teachers of the same subjects but they never invite resource people from outside. Also, the meetings are not routine. So, if we are talking about improving teachers' competence, for example with regard to the new curriculum, we still have a long way to go. In 2017 teachers were invited to such activities by the central education office in Jakarta. These meetings are usually in Jakarta or in the provincial capital. Then, it was in Tarakan. Teachers invited to such activities are usually those from the reference schools. These teachers are trained and mentored by the ministry to improve their competencies.
55 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Initiatives like this from the local government do not exist yet, we still depend on the central office' (Teacher's union representative).
Another informant commented on teachers' working groups:
'The activities of the teachers' working groups have actually been running consistently. But yes… they do have a problem with developing their professional skills because of their limited ability. So, it seems that the groups have no role … yes sometimes it seems like that' (Head of basic education, district education office).
Partnerships – Malinau
The budget for education in Malinau reached IDR230 billion in 2016 or about 13 per cent of the total budget for the province. Other potential sources of funding for education are from the village development program and the village fund. Three main programs in Malinau are: the clean neighbourhood project; the rice or food subsidy program and the mandatory 16 years of education program.
There are three priority programs for education in 201818 in Malinau. They are: building new classrooms at three high schools (SMA 12 Kec. Sungai Tubu, SMA Kec. Malinau Selatan Hulu, SMA Kec. Malinau Selatan Hilir); providing infrastructure and facilities for primary, junior secondary and senior secondary schools; and providing teachers for primary, junior secondary and senior secondary schools in remote and border areas.
4.4 DISCUSSIONS
The research team categorised the findings of the study into common and unique issues. Common issues are generally found throughout Indonesia and unique issues are those found specifically in Bulungan and Malinau. We divided the findings into eight common issues and seven unique issues (Table 26).
Table 26: Common and unique educational issues in North Kalimantan
Number Common issues (nationwide) Unique issues (local issues in Bulungan and Malinau) 1 Budget limitation Misunderstanding about the importance of education by parents 2 Unequal distribution of teachers Lack of library rooms
3 Lack of competence among teachers Gender issues
4 Lack of parent or community involvement Teachers' lack of creativity
5 Limited access to schools Low qualifications of teachers
6 Lack of school supervisory competence Schools in transmigration areas are more developed
7 Misunderstandings about the concept of Illiteracy still found in remote villages literacy
8 Lack of training for inclusive education -
18 Based on presentation slides of the head of the district at the district planning meeting in 2018.
56 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Common issues
1. Budget limitation The study found that there is limited local government budget for improving the quality of education. Several programs outlined in the strategic plan cannot be implemented due to this year’s budget cuts (informants from the district education office and Bappeda in North Kalimantan). Thus there will be no inclusive education training (there are currently no inclusive schools in the province). School visits by school supervisors have had to be limited due to the high costs of transport and accommodation, as well as long travelling days. The provincial government’s budget focuses on infrastructure development (especially in remote areas) with 20 per cent of the budget allocated to this.
2. Unequal distribution of teachers The teacher: learner ratio in North Kalimantan is 1:14 for primary school and 1:13 for junior secondary school. These ratios are lower than the national standard of 1:28 for primary school and 1:32 for junior secondary school. However, this low ratio is economically inefficient and also does not reflect the real problem which is the distribution of teachers in the province. There are more teachers in the urban areas than in the rural areas and so there are apparent shortages of teachers in some of the more remote areas. However, the new regional autonomy in education may help achieve a better plan for teachers’ distribution.
After the enactment of Law no 32 of 2016, the district government has become responsible for planning for schools and teachers. The informants agreed, however, that calculating the number of teachers needed to be based on accurate and consistent data. Inconsistencies are found when there are multiple data sources which is still an issue in this relatively new province.
The central government, through a joint ministerial regulation, known as the Five Ministerial decree on teacher management, standardised national technical policy on the management and distribution of civil-servant teachers across education units, education levels and education types. The regulation aimed to ensure the equal distribution of teachers between the various educational units within and between regions, provinces, districts and cities, as well as to guarantee the quality of formal education nationwide. The Ministry of National Education issued technical guidelines in the same year so that the regulation would be implemented properly. The guidelines provide a reference for central and regional personnel development officers, heads of provincial and district education offices, principals and other stakeholders involved in deploying civil-servant teachers to various teaching institutions, such as kindergarten, primary, junior secondary, senior secondary, vocational schools and special needs schools.
Based on these guidelines, calculations of the number of teachers needed has to consider the following information: number of teachers according to the type of teacher, number of learners, number of learning groups, number of hours (curriculum structure) and type of program. For senior secondary and vocational schools, the planning should be submitted to the district or city education office, while for education for children with special needs, the planning should be submitted to the provincial education office. There are three types of teachers: • Classroom teachers who have full duties, responsibility, authority and rights in the learning process of all subjects at kindergarten and primary school level and the equivalent formal education units; • Subject matter teachers who have full responsibility, authority and rights in the learning process of one subject in a formal education unit at primary, junior secondary and senior secondary school levels, including physical education, health and religious education teachers; • Counsellors who have full duties, responsibility, authority and rights in guidance and counselling activities for some formal education unit participants at junior secondary and senior secondary school levels.
57 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 3. Lack of teachers' competence The study found that one-third (35 per cent) of teachers do not have bachelor's degree level (S1/D4) qualifications and two-thirds (61 per cent) of teachers do not have teachers' certificates. An academic qualification is a level of academic education that teachers should have according to the type of formal education unit they are assigned to. Law no 14 of 2005, article 8, mandates that teachers must have academic qualifications, competencies, teachers' certificates, physical and spiritual health, and be able to implement the goals of national education. The academic qualifications referred to in article 8 are obtained through higher education or undergraduate diploma programs. Competence is a set of knowledge, skills and behaviours that must be owned, experienced and mastered by teachers or lecturers in performing professional duties. According to Law no 14 of 2015, article 10, there are four competencies that teachers should obtain through professional education: pedagogical, personality, social and professional competencies.
A teachers' certificate is a formal recognition of a teacher's professional status. Teachers' certification, also known in some countries as a teaching licence, is proof of a teacher's ability to meet professional standards. It is often linked to salary and career development and has an impact on stabilising and improving the teaching workforce. Higher certifications, like those offered in Australia, can also be used to encourage teachers to pursue continuing professional development and maintain their pedagogical knowledge and skills. Similarly, countries that have improved their achievements in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), such as Estonia, Poland, Brazil, Colombia, Japan and Israel, have established policies to improve the quality of their teachers by adding requirements for teachers to obtain a 'teaching licence'.
Many teachers with bachelor's level qualifications do not want to teach in remote areas that are identified as areas with no communication network, poor transport systems and high living costs. Faced with this constraint, the local government has no choice but to recruit senior secondary school graduates from the local community to become teachers. Only those who already have a bachelor's degree or equivalent are eligible to enrol for the teachers' certification program. The competencies of teachers with secondary school diplomas are limited so they would not be able to pass the certification test. Also, the lack of the internet makes it difficult to enrol for an online certification program.
4. Parents and communities' lack of involvement The study found that parents and communities are not involved in school activities and the support they offer for education in North Kalimantan is still limited. Parents and communities often consider education less important than their instantly economically-rewarding farming or hunting activities. RPSA (2017) also found that school principals do not frequently involve the community in school activities. To overcome this problem, schools and teachers should provide creative activities or special education services to remote areas, such as open schools, home-schooling and distance education. These suggestions are laid out in the Ministry of Education and Culture decrees no 24 of 2012 and no 46 of 2014.
5. Limitations to access The study found that North Kalimantan has various limitations, such as access to schools, the internet, a telephone signal and electricity. In the sub-district of Peso Hilir, Malinau, for example, the remote villages have to be reached by boat and then by foot for several kilometres. Internet access is necessary for teachers who want to develop their skills through online learning for continuing professional development, for example. Similarly, students cannot follow the online national examination if there is no internet access. Access to the internet or communication networks is not a problem in the cities. There are 50 remote schools in Malinau and 12 remote schools in Bulungan (RPSA, 2017) that suffer from these problems.
The limitation on telephone contact and internet services is the reason for the basic education data (DAPODIK) for North Kalimantan being incomplete. As DAPODIK is internet based, 5 per cent of the
58 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan data cannot be collected due to the lack of telephone and internet access in these schools. The unavailability of reading books for children in rural areas is also due to the difficulties of delivering books to these remote areas.
6. Lack of competence among school supervisors The study found that school supervisors do not supervise all their target schools due to budget constraints. An absence of visits as well as a lack of mentoring and coaching are common issues in remote areas. This situation is unacceptable since supervisors are supposed to meet the school supervisory standards as regulated in the National education regulation no 12 of 2007 on standards for school supervisors. The role of school supervisors as functional officials is expressly stipulated in Law no 20 of 2003 and Government regulation no 19 of 2005. The qualification standards for primary school supervisors state that supervisors should pass the competence test and/or functional supervisory training at the institution established by the government and also pass the selection process in an education unit. Ofsted (2003) states that school supervisors' duties include the following five aspects: inspecting, advising, monitoring, reporting and coordinating. To perform these basic tasks, school supervisors must have leadership skills. The competence of supervisors is a national issue, as stated by the director of education personnel:
'The issue that overwhelms the school supervisor is most serious. The problems are complex and endless. The qualifications, competencies and welfare of supervisors are generally lower than teachers and school principals. The school supervisory profession is considered less prestigious…'
7. Misunderstandings about the concept of literacy The study found that the respondents still have different understandings about literacy and especially about ‘meaningful reading’. According to UNESCO, literacy is a real set of skills, especially the cognitive skills of reading and writing. According to the National Institute for Literacy, literacy is the ability of individuals to read, write, talk, calculate and solve problems at the level of expertise required in work, family, and society. The concept of literacy in Indonesia is not a new thing. This concept became viral after the Hazel survey on the results of the PISA students' assessment in 2015 showed that Indonesia was ranked 64 out of 72 countries. During the 2012–2015 period, PISA scores for reading ability only increased by one point from 396 to 397. Meanwhile, in literacy mastery, Indonesia ranks 60 out of 61 countries (Central Connecticut State University, 2016).
We urgently need to synchronise the concept of literacy among practitioners and policymakers in North Kalimantan. The national literacy movement has been echoed by the Ministry of Education and Culture since 2016. The movement coordinates various literacy activities such as seminars, training and exhibitions. The government has also mandated the literacy movement through Law no 20 of 2003 on the national education system, in the five-year development plan 2015–2019 and in the Ministry of Education and Culture regulation no 23 of 2017 on character building. Part of the target of the national development plan is to improve the quality of life and to increase productivity and competitiveness through character building.
8. Lack of training for inclusive education The study found that North Kalimantan has no inclusive schools and teachers have not been trained on inclusive education at the provincial or district levels. This is partly due to budget limitations at both levels. Inclusive education means providing opportunities for all students to fully participate in education and in the social experience offered by schools, and to achieve results according to their own potential, regardless of their situation. Provincial and local governments need a strong commitment to improve access to and the quality of education for all students. Education is one of the basic human rights, guaranteed by the 1945 constitution as well as in other legislation underlying inclusive education, such as, Law no 20 of 2003 on the national education system, the national eucation strategic plan 2010– 2014, the Ministry of Religious Affairs 2007 grand design for nine years
59 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan of basic education, National education regulation no 41 of 2007 on standard processes for primary and junior secondary education units and the National education regulation no 70 of 2009 on inclusive education.
Unique issues
1. Misunderstandings about the importance of education (mindset of parents) The study found that many parents in rural areas believe that education is not important and going to school will not provide money. They assume that farming or hunting is more likely to help their families avoid poverty. Parents who still have this perception are counter-productive to the goal of educating the nation. The central and local governments should provide services and facilities, and ensure quality education for every citizen without discrimination (Law no 20 of 2003, article 11) –including for communities in remote areas. Article 31 paragraph 1 of the 1945 constitution states that every citizen is entitled to education and obliged to follow basic education, and the government is obliged to finance it (article 32, paragraph 2).
2. Lack of library rooms The study found that only half the primary schools in North Kalimantan have a library room. A library is the centre of knowledge in the school, storing the materials and resources that support the learning process and encourage students, staff and society to be lifelong learners. Some consider the library the heart of the school. Government regulation no 19 of 2005, article 42 (2) states that:
'Every education unit is required to have infrastructure covering land, classroom, principal’s room, teachers' room, administrative space, library room ... and other spaces needed to support regular and ongoing learning process.'
Government regulation no 17 of 2010 in article 29, paragraph 4 states that local governments or districts should allocate a budget so that the national education system in the district or province can be implemented effectively, efficiently and accountably in accordance with the regional policy of education .'.. including budget for the procurement of a school library room'. School libraries should not only exist but should be able to provide a friendly environment that the students and also the community can explore.
3. Gender issues The study found that girls are more likely to attend school than boys during the farming and hunting seasons because the boys assist their parents in the field. This finding raises the further research question: Is there any difference in the achievement or final scores of boys and girls at the end of the school year or primary school? RPSA (2017) also found that boys were more likely than girls to drop out of school.
4. Teachers' lack of creativity The study found that teachers lack creativity in the classroom and tend to use only the lecture method without using any teaching aids. This finding echoes the results in the RPSA (2017) and needs to be followed up because teachers are central to the success of the school and school improvement will only occur through individual teachers at the classroom level. Teachers are not only required to be facilitators, motivators, managers, and so on but also need to be creative and professional. Teachers must continually ensure that learning is effective, efficient, interesting, meaningful, relevant and contextual. Some of the questions that teachers need to ask themselves and answer,for example are: (1) How can I create an attractive, effective and inexpensive learning tool so that students are motivated to learn actively and creatively?; (2) What should I do when the farming and hunting seasons arrive?; (3) What should I do when students have difficulty in reaching the school? Government Regulation no 19 of 2005 on the national education standards in article 28 mandates that 'Educators
60 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan must have academic qualifications and competencies as learning agents, be physically and mentally healthy, and have the ability to implement the goals of national education.'
5. Teachers' qualifications – teachers in remote areas are secondary school graduates Teachers' qualifications are a serious issue, especially in remote, border and isolated areas where many teachers have only secondary school qualifications. Low salaries, the high cost of transport, difficult geographical conditions, no communication network or entertainment are among the reasons that qualified teachers are reluctant to be assigned to these areas. To overcome this problem, local government can refer to the following regulations: Government regulation no 47 of 2008 on compulsory education, Government regulation no 10 of 2009 on education services and Ministry of Education and Culture regulation no 24 of 2012 on implementing distance education in higher education.
6. Education in transmigrant areas is more advanced The study found that students in transmigrant areas achieved better results than students in the local population sites. While this finding is interesting we must be careful in interpreting it too literally as the researchers only sampled the different populations so they may not represent the full picture. It is also not clear which transmigration area the informants were referring to. Further in-depth assessment is needed to explore this finding.
7. Illiterate children in remote areas We still find many illiterate children in the remote areas. We also need to be careful in addressing this finding as it may reflect a personal opinion and may not accurately represent the whole population in these areas. Once again, it was not clear which remote areas the informants were referring to. Further in-depth assessment is needed to explore this finding.
Table 27 summarises the recommendations related to the following findings: education challenges, local solutions, teachers’ working groups and partnerships.
Table 27: Summary of the findings and recommendations
FINDINGS (Bulungan and Malinau)* RECOMMENDATIONS Education challenges a. Stop the moratorium policy for civil-servant teachers Most teachers were civil servants but nearly 1 b. Recruit frontline teachers to become 50 per cent will retire soon permanent teachers (particularly in remote areas) 2 Most teachers did not have teachers' Train teachers so that they can obtain the certificates certificate, as mandated by Law no 14 of 2005 Synchronise teachers' distribution data in The ratio of teachers to students was high accordance with the Five Ministerial decree on but the distribution was problematic. Many teachers' management 3 teachers in remote areas move to the cities and do not want to return to the remote areas
Local governments are required to implement Government regulation no 17 of 2019, article Most primary schools did not have a library 29, which states that local governments must 4 room. Out of the existing libraries, only a few allocate funds to provide a space for a school were in good condition library District recommendation: each school should establish reading parks or reading corners Synchronise the concept of educational quality, Stakeholders, including teachers and literacy, numeracy and inclusive education 5 parents, had different perceptions about among stakeholders, including teachers and the quality education community
61 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 6 Teachers had limited competence especially Improve teachers' pedagogical competence in with regard to pedagogical skills accordance with the mandate of Law no 14 of 2005, article 8-10 District recommendation: • Empower high quality personnel (principals, supervisors and teachers) to improve padagocial competence through teachers' working groups • Teachers should join online courses for continuing professional development
o Share good experiences with other teachers through teachers' working groups or schools o Empower district facilitators to improve their professional or pedagogical competencies either through teachers' working groups or schools, for example, training teachers on active learning methods or making simple instructional aids/media a. Create creative activities that involve parents Parents and community involvement was or communities in improving schools 7 minimal b. Increase public awareness of the importance
of education a. Recruit supervisors following the rules of the National education regulation no 12 of 2007 on primary supervisors' qualification standards b. Improve the competence of primary supervisors District recommendation: School supervisors lack competence 8 • Empower supervisors' working groups by members sharing best practices • Supervisors should join online courses for continuing professional development Training for supervisors, especially on skills in academic supervision
Provide electricity, transport and 9 Many areas have no access or infrastructure communications to the inland areas Schools need to develop potential support from 10 Budget limitations of the local government parents and communities a. Ensure stakeholders understand the concepts of quality education, literacy, Stakeholders lack commitment to improving numeracy and inclusion education quality, including in literacy and b. Involve all stakeholders in planning, 11 numeracy implementing, monitoring and evaluating the results of educational development activities District recommendation: empower local facilitators to improve education quality a. Local governments need to choose and promote good practices that exist in schools and communities in addressing literacy issues The low average grade of primary literacy 12 b. The government needs to disseminate or
replicate the good practices at certain schools to other schools or regions c. The government is expected to allocate funds to implement the ‘good practices’ activities
62 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan District recommendation: scale up best practices a. Facilitate the donation of books by parents and communities, for example, provide a box where they can put their donated books in the classroom and a book shelf on the wall b. Expand cooperation with the Border Lack of children's storybooks and reading Teachers' Forum 13 materials at school c. Cooperate with the post office services for the
free book delivery program on the 17th of every month District recommendation: request donations of storybooks/reading books for children from other stakeholders Train teachers and education stakeholders on 14 No training on inclusive education inclusive education Schools need to learn strategies to increase Lack of interest in reading (literacy and students' motivation in the early grades from the 15 numeracy issues) among students in grades school literacy movement model schools one to three District recommendation: create reading corners or parks Provide electricity, transport, communications Border areas have high percentage of 16 and additional incentives for teachers in inland teachers who are absent areas Local solutions found in the district Recommendations for further improvements Local governments need to prepare educational facilities and infrastructure to support the 16- year compulsory education policy in remote Issuing local regulations (district decree / areas 1 mayors' regulations) (Malinau) Recommendation for INOVASI: design activities to support local regulations, for example, monitoring community learning hours and promoting the role of parents/students during these times The local government may involve the CSR 2 Providing incentives for teachers program and communities to reduce the burden of providing incentives for teachers Providing scholarships for outstanding Special consideration should be given to 3 students through the 'Smart Kaltara' students from remote areas in awarding program scholarships Local governments need to prepare educational facilities and infrastructure to support the 16- year compulsory education policy in remote Carry out compulsory 16-year education areas (same as no 1), such as continue to 4 program implement the one school for one village program and empower principals with strong leadership skills to share their experience with other schools Recruiting frontline teachers to become Recruiting frontline teachers should prioritise 5 honorary teachers those from the local population (area) Training on Curriculum 13 should focus on the parts that cause difficulties, such as Implementing additional Curriculum 13 assessment of learning 6 training Recommendation for INOVASI: identify the
specific needs of teachers related to implementing Curriculum 13 Implementing character education Strengthening character education should be 7 strengthening integrated with students’ subjects Provide transport tailored to the needs of the 8 Involving CSR in providing school buses local area
63 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Distance education programs can be Providing scholarships for teachers to 9 implemented without disturbing teachers' improve their qualifications classroom activities Providing distance learning programs for Provide distance learning programs that follow 10 primary and junior secondary schools the customs of the local communities a. Cooperation between schools is required to run the school literacy movement program b. A school literacy movement forum should be 11 Implementing the school literacy movement established Recommendation for INOVASI: ensure the establishment of a school literacy movement task force a. Mobile libraries should also be able to cover Providing moving library facilities (mobile the inland areas, using water transport 12 libraries) b. Visiting frequencies of mobile libraries need to be increased 13 Carrying out multigrade learning (Bulungan) - Reading materials in reading parks should be tailored to the needs of the users, especially for 14 Building reading parks children in early grades Recommendation for INOVASI: identify storybooks for students in the early grades The clean neighbourhood program should focus Carrying out the clean neighbourhood on improving student learning outcomes in 15 program (Malinau) lower and upper classes and not focus only on
physical development Collaborating with the Border Teachers' 17 - Forum
Providing student dormitories for students 19 Other support should be considered, for from remote areas (Malinau) example to provide daily meals Working with volunteers from AMAN 20 - (community tribe alliance) (Malinau) Implementing community service programs 21 in remote areas (Teaching faculty, Borneo - Tarakan university) Teachers recruited should be encouraged to improve their skills and local government should Recruiting under-qualified local teachers support them 22 (senior secondary or vocational school Recommendation for INOVASI: empower local graduates) facilitators to mentor under-qualified local teachers to improve their professional and pedagogical competencies Teachers' working groups (KKG) Recommendation for INOVASI: Local facilitators, school principals and recognised teachers should be encouraged to improve other teachers’ competencies by sharing their positive experiences 1 Teachers' working groups have not been The education office needs to set up a program effective as a mean of improving teachers' to improve teachers' competence through competence teachers' working groups a.Teachers' working group activities should be Motivation to come to teachers' working designed to help improve their skills 2 group meetings is low b. Teachers' working group activities should be implemented to support the daily activities of teachers (teachers will have direct benefits) 3 Teachers' working group activities were The education office needs to invite resource limited to sharing information among persons from outside the teachers' working group to inspire teachers
64 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan classroom teachers or teachers of the same subject matter 4 No instructors or resource people were The education office needs to invite resource available to fulfil teachers' skills persons from outside the teachers' working development needs group to inspire teachers 5 Teachers' working group meetings were only The education office should empower the called at times when the exams / tests were teachers' working group management to create being prepared (frequency of meeting / low a varied program and activity schedule to activity) improve teachers' skills 6 Education offices were not empowering The education office should empower the teachers' working group for training or teachers' working group management to create teachers' skills development a varied program or activity schedule to improve teachers' skills 7 Limited funding for teachers' working groups • Use teacher professional funds or CSR funds through the principals' working group to improve teachers' pedagogical competencies, such as training on simple teaching aids / instructional media t
8 Lack of teachers' working group capacity • Empower local facilitators to share their good experiences in teachers' working groups • Disseminate or share best practices by recognised school principals through teachers' working groups • Share good experiences in solving literacy problems from members of the school literacy movement or school principals
Village fund and the development planning forum (Musrenbang)
1 There was a commitment to increasing the Allocation for improving the quality of education education budget allocation to more than 20 should be the priority not just increasing per cent of the total budget. physical facilities 2 From the budget allocation, there was no Allocation for improving the quality of education specific allocation to improve quality or should be a priority, not just improving physical competence of teachers facilities 3 There were no rules related to the use of Local governments need to draw up regulations funds from CSR on the use of CSR funds
4 There was no strong link between school School work plans should be used as one of the work planning and the district development reference documents in drafting the local planning operational unit's strategic plan * unless otherwise stated
65 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 5. CASE STUDIES
Schools and communities in North Kalimantan have been trying to tackle the literacy challenges in their areas. These efforts need to be looked at in more depth to get an overview of the process and the results achieved. We carried out case studies of local best practices in three areas, one in Tarakan city, two in Bulungan district and two in Malinau district. Two schools are environmentally-friendly schools (Adiwiyata predicate) and four schools are active in the literacy movement (Table 28). The field notes for these case studies are included in Appendix 7, the transcripts in Appendix 8, the list of the participants and their contact numbers are in Appendix 9 and the descriptions of the case studies are in Appendix 11.
Table 28: Local best practices
Schools Best practices Tarakan SDN 037 Tarakan • Adiwiyata school • School literacy movement • Empowering parents and teachers Bulungan district SDN 06 Tanjung Selor • Adiwiyata school • Variety of teaching methods, creative teaching aids • Literacy movement (reading corner, reading tree) SDN 013 Bulu Perindu • Open community reading park • Parents and community involvement • Improved access to school • Implementing the schools literacy movement program Malinau district SDIT Insan Utama • Procedures to help students with low literacy competence • Involving parents and community • Empowering teachers Reading park • Community empowerment neighbourhood (RT)1 • Empowering students Tanjung Lapang • Cooperation with the police department for some activities
The research team was given names of some other schools that could be pursued for their best practices: • SDN 01 Tanjung Selor (Adiwiyata school; presence of parents and community involvement), and • SDN 09 Tanjung Selor (various teaching methods, creative teaching aids, literacy movement, learning by playing approach)
5.1 TARAKAN
Primary school SDN 037 in Kelurahan Tarakan Tengah, Tarakan city, has implemented the school literacy movement and become a reference school for literacy. We interviewed the school supervisor, school principal, grade one teacher and the head of the primary education division in the district education office for the case study.
Becoming a favourite school 1. Signing a learning contract: At the beginning of the year, the principal drew up a contract for parents to sign. Through this contract, the parents commit to sending their children to the school until they graduate (grade six). This means the students cannot move to other schools.
66 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 2. Involving parents in developing the school: The parents are engaged in improving the physical quality of the school, for example, arranging the classroom and providing materials or labour for new classrooms. The parents are highly aware of the importance of education and happy to be involved in ensuring the school's progress.
School literacy movement To improve literacy and numeracy skills, the school started a literacy program in 2015. 1. Eye-opener for the teachers: The school principal started by using a variety of learning aids (especially for literacy) to improve the quality of teaching. At first, only the younger teachers followed the new approach but now, all the teachers are implementing the various methods to support the literacy program. 2. Optimising teachers' potential: Teachers became mentors and models in demonstrating how to develop tools to attract students to reading, for example, by creating a big book with purely local content introducing the plants from the area, like caramunting trees and mangroves, and the local transport like the traditional boats used, known as ketinting. 3. Implementing a daily literacy program: As a matter of routine, every day the school does literacy activities for 20 minutes at the beginning of the first lesson. For the lower grades, this is usually a story- reading activity. After reading the story the teachers discuss it with the children, talking about the title of the story, the characters, what happens and the moral messages. The students may be given time to draw the characters from the story and pictures of themselves and may be asked to identify similarities between the characters in the stories and themselves. 4. Providing a reading corner: A reading corner is a place where students can sit and read together. The school has a reading corner in each classroom and the reading materials are tailored to the students' ability level in each class. Books are also placed outside the classroom, either in a reading basket or as part of a reading park. 5. Optimising student’s roles: The school literacy task force takes care of activities such as arranging books in the reading park, putting reading baskets in place and monitoring students' reading activities. The task force consists of selected students who wear special uniforms. The task force is also responsible for arranging pictures and finding natural materials for the students' 'big book'. 6. Decorating the school and classrooms with images and slogans related to literacy: To motivate students to read, the school walls are covered with pictures of reading activities or with literacy slogans. In the classrooms, the walls are decorated with the students’ work and drawings. All the work on display exposes students to literacy and numeracy topics. 7. Book basket: Interesting and common books that all students can read are put in a reading basket in front of the teachers' room. The reading basket is arranged nicely and looks appealing. At the end of the school day, the literacy task force puts the basket back in the teachers' room. 8. Book donations: Baskets are put in front of classroom doors for donated books. The idea is to encourage parents bringing their children to school to donate books. 9. Reading park (taman bacaan): A reading area was made in the school yard and the books are put on simple shelves that the literacy task force arranges every morning and packs away every afternoon. In this way, students can come and read during their school breaks. 10. Thematic class doors: Each classroom has a thematic note put up on the front door. The notes are beautifully made and decorated to attract students to read them. 11. Links with literacy activists; The school has developed good relationships with various literacy groups such as the Border Teachers' Forum, One Day One Book Community and Jendela Nusantara.
67 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
5.2 BULUNGAN DISTRICT
Two primary schools that use best practices were explored as case studies in Bulungan: • SDN 06 Tanjung Selor, Kelurahan Tanjung Selor Hilir, Tanjung Selor sub-district and • SDN 013 Bulu Perindu, Desa Bulu Perindu, Kelurahan Tanjung Selor Hulu, Tanjung Selor sub-district.
Interviews and observations were conducted over the period 18–21 February 2018. The field notes are included in Appendix 7, the list of the informants and contact numbers in Appendix 9 and the descriptions of the case studies in Appendix 11.
SDN 06 Tanjung Selor We interviewed the school principal and three teachers at SDN 06. Mrs Martiana was the pioneer of the Adiwiyata movement at SDN 06 and has been teaching since 1987. She was appointed the school principal in March 2013 and that is when the changes started at the school. SDN 06 was previously known as a ‘chicken barn’ school because the classes were separated with iron wire and the school was so muddy. As the principal, Mrs Martiana was determined to change the image of her school. Now, the following best practices found at SDN 006 Tanjung Selor.
National independent Adiwiyata school 1. The school achieved the status of Adiwiyata Mandiri school at the national level in 2017. 2. In addition to asking for funds from the district education office to improve the school buildings Mrs Martiana approached a number of other institutions. After years of applying, the school finally received a special allocation from the local government to build some new classrooms. 3. The principal was committed to making the school a beautiful environment. The students competed to make decorations and the best ones were displayed in the classrooms. Recycled materials, such as old bottles, were used for decoration. 4. She also set a good example by maintaining the cleanliness of the school for example, making sure that any trash was picked up. 5. A school park was set up by planting herbal plants. 6. By taking a personal approach with parents, always greeting and communicating with them, parents are now more involved in school activities. Previously, when the school invited parents, less than half of them came so they may have had 20 out of 50 parents invited. However one year after she implemented the personal approach, more parents began to accept her invitations. An example of activities that parents have supported is painting the school walls and fences, without any cost to the school. 7. The school is now a comfortable environment and more conducive to learning. The students are more disciplined and enjoy their school environment. They keep the school clean and reduce environmental pollution. Furthermore developing this discipline and establishing these good habits has also given students the capacity to develop other good habits, such as reading.
Literacy 8. In 2016 the school literacy movement was introduced in Bulungan district. The schools allocate a 15 minute reading time before classes begin (from 7:15–7:30am). They can take books from the library or bring them from home. The school has received book donations from the local and central libraries. 9. The students make decorations related to literacy and display their work in the classrooms. 10. The literacy movement was linked to the school health program and information on how to wash hands and the importance of cleanliness has been put up near the wash basins. 11. The literacy movement was also linked to the school cafeteria. Information on healthy living was put up on the wall of the cafeteria and the cafeteria now sells healthy food.
68 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 12. The students planted medicinal plants around the school and put notes on the plants. The notes give the plant’s name and describe its benefits. The whole school area has become a conducive learning environment for literacy. 13. Each classroom has a reading corner. This is either a shelf or a table with books laid out to attract students to read. 14. A story-telling or reading competition takes place every semester and also for the school anniversary every year on 19 December. The school provides prizes, such as stationery items, so that students are motivated to do their best. 15. Every Saturday there are storytelling activities in the classrooms and in the school yard. This exercise has helped to increase students’ confidence so that even a grade two student with special needs is brave enough to come up to the front of the class and talk to his classmates about the book that he has just read. 16. As part of this same exercise, students gather on the school field every Saturday at 7.15 am and listen to their classmates retelling stories. To test their understanding, the teachers ask them to recall the stories and so this exercise not only develops their reading skills but also their understanding and their interpretation skills (literacy skills).
SDN 013 Bulu Perindu
We interviewed four people at SDN 013: the school principal, a representative of the school committee, a teacher and a parent. Mrs Warsiyah, the school principal, was transferred to SDN 013 in February 2017. At that time the school was in a poor condition in terms of facilities and infrastructure (storybooks for children, teaching aids) and in terms of the quality of services (indiscipline among teachers, teachers not able to teach according to the lesson plan and high absenteeism among students). The principal was determined to change the image of her school and the school now uses a number of best practices.
1. Mrs Warsiyah initiated changes by first approaching parents, Islamic leaders (teachers) and village community leaders. She succeeded in mobilising people to participate in cleaning up the school and its surroundings. 2. Together they also built a bridge to connect the village to Tanjung Selor. 3. The bridge has improved the school's accessibility for the students and the villagers. The students no longer need to rent a small wooden boat (ketinting) to get to school. 4. The school also encourages students to develop the habit of reading. They are required to read a book for 15 minutes before class starts every day. Books are provided in the classroom reading corners, in the teachers' room, library and in the community reading park. 5. The school has become a literacy-friendly environment. The teachers have created reading corners in the classrooms and in the school corridors and re-activated the library which had become non- functional. Students' work is displayed in the classrooms. 6. Mrs Warsiyah improved the management of the school by disciplining teachers, improving learning methods, developing lesson plans, rearranging students’ seating, and holding active meetings with the teachers. 7. In December 2017, a community reading park was built at the port of Bulu Perindu village. This reading park makes it possible for students to read outside of the school area and also to persuade their parents to read too. 8. The education office provided 700 books which were distributed to the libraries, reading corners and the community reading park. 9. All these activities have had a positive impact on the students who are more enthusiastic about learning in school because the school environment is cleaner, tidier and more comfortable. This has also affected the teachers as they are more disciplined and are now able to create and follow their own lesson plans. Children use the reading park as a place to play and learn. There is now a growing interest in reading and the parents and community participate in the learning process.
69 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 5.3 MALINAU DISTRICT
In Malinau, efforts to overcome illiteracy are evident both in the schools and in the community. The integrated Islamic primary school (SDIT) Insan Utama, has developed its own strategies to overcome literacy difficulties for its grade one students while the community has established a reading park in neighbourhood (RT) 01 Tanjung Lapang. The team explored these two best practices in education as case studies: • SDIT Insan Utama, North Malinau sub-district • Reading park (taman bacaan) in neighbourhood (RT) 01 Tanjung Lapang, West Malinau sub- district
The field notes are included in Appendix 7, the list of informants and contact numbers in Appendix 9 and the descriptions of the case studies are in Appendix 11.
SDIT Insan Utama
SDIT Insan Utama is located in Jalan Abdul Hasan neighbourhood 01, Malinau Seberang, North Malinau sub- district. The school was established in 2012. Our study at SDIT Insan Utama included interviews with the school principal, the grade one teacher, two parents, and with grades one and two students. We also observed grades one to three classes. The school has 11 study groups, 16 teachers and 188 students. While two of the teachers had D-3 qualifications the remaining 14 had bachelor's degrees. All the teachers have teachers' certificates. The graduates' results in the national examinations were slightly above the average for the district (Indonesian language: 77, mathematics: 68 and science: 75). Mr Aswar, the principal, said that he believes all children are winners. The best practices used at the school are as follows:
Literacy problem resolution strategy 1. The principal saw no reason to reject prospective students due to their low literacy skills during school enrolment. He considered developing students’ ability to read and write as the responsibility of the school and the task of the teachers. 2. The school has implemented a special program for students who experience difficulties in literacy. The target for literacy (basic reading and writing) at the school is students being able to read fluently by grade two. If illiteracy can be overcome at the grade one level then there are less likely to be reading difficulties in the later grades. The teachers provided individual consultations with students who had reading difficulties. The principal gives the classroom teachers the flexibility to innovate and overcome literacy problems for grade one students. The school aimed to provide quality services for parents and students.
New student enrolment program and basic literacy capability mapping 1. The new student enrollment program at SDIT Insan Utama is an equal opportunity platform. The school does not set down a prerequisite minimum of literacy skills for its prospective students. The target of acceptance each year is about 50 students. Most of the students came from the sub-district of North Malinau and its surrounding areas. 2. After enrolment, students are tested to determine their basic ability. The classroom teachers find it easier to teach students when they know their levels. The teachers' guide on basic oral testing is used to test prospective students. The guide gives five tasks that the students should be asked to complete, namely: – introducing themselves, including stating their names, addresses, name of the kindergarten, their parents’ names and the number of siblings they have; – explaining the use of some parts of the body: eyes, ears, nose, feet and hands; – identifying five colours, as shown by the teachers: red, yellow, black, blue and green; – counting, for example, indicating number of plates, addition and subtraction, comparison (more, less, and equal) and directions, up, down, right and left; and – reading syllables, words, phrases and sentences.
70 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 3. New students with literacy difficulties are put in the same class. This grouping makes it easier for the teacher to help students. 4. Interviews are held with prospective parents so they can build a shared commitment and parents will support the school's programs.
Mapping student literacy levels 5. Individual lessons for students with low literacy skills are not started in the first semester of grade one. However, if literacy problem persists, then students receive special treatment and have individual reading lessons after consultation with their parents. 6. Students who are fluent in reading are given independent reading tasks. Students who are less fluent can listen to other students read or join peer-tutor learning groups. Students who still have reading difficulties are given private reading lessons.
Implementing individual reading activities for students with literacy issues 7. Private reading activities are held four days a week from Monday to Thursday. 8. To evaluate students' progress, they are given the same reading materials so it is clear which students are fluent and which students need extra help. 9. Students' progress after their individual reading sessions is always communicated to the parents. This is to motivate parents to provide follow-up guidance for the students at home. 10. The technique of teaching reading and writing to students begins by students identifying the letters of the alphabet, then reading words by syllable and finally reading by spelling out. Students are usually introduced to the letters of the alphabet in the kindergarten. 11. Students' reading progress is recorded in the teachers' private reading record book, which includes the students’ name, their reading assignment and their reading status: L for continue (lanjut) and U for repeat (ulang). Mrs Anita Sujiati, the grade one teacher for class B, came up with the idea of the private reading record book.
Literacy learning or peer tutoring among students 12. From Monday to Thursday, students who are fluent in reading are assigned to read a book from the small library available in each classroom. Once a week all students are asked to read two pages of their book in front of the class. 13. During group work for thematic subjects, the ‘fluent students’ are divided between the groups so they can help their less fluent classmates. 14. Every student is asked to read in front of the class, even those who are not yet fluent.
Possible replication of the literacy resolution 15. SDIT Insan Utama is willing to share their experiences and discuss literacy issues with other schools. 16. The teachers' working group forum could be used to share these literacy experiences.
Communication with parents 17. Before students with difficulties are given any special treatment, teachers consult the parents and discuss the options as the parents' support is essential if the approach is to succeed.
Communication media between teachers and parents 18. Students' progress after their individual coaching is communicated to the parents through a ‘Whattsapp’ group. The teachers can then request that parents follow up at home and monitor their children’s activities during the community learning hours. Teachers now have a much closer relationship with the parents.
Teachers-parents regular meetings 19. Regular meetings are held between teachers and parents. The parent-teachers association monthly meeting is a forum to share the progress and problems that students face, especially in literacy. The
71 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan quarterly meetings between teachers and parents also convey information about students’ progress and school programs.
School routine evaluation 20. Monitoring students' learning ability, including literacy, is done routinely every two weeks. The school principal, vice principal for the curriculum, vice principal for students' affairs and all the teachers are involved in the monitoring process.
Mini library 21. Since the original library room had been converted into a classroom, the books are placed on shelves in each classroom. Teachers are encouraged to call for book donations from parents and other sources.
Building a good emotional relationship between the school and the students 22. To provide a sense of security and comfort in learning, the school develops close and friendly relationships among students, teachers and the principal. The following strategies, among others, are used: out-of-class learning, sitting together and using familiar calls.
Classroom with a literacy and numeracy theme 23. The classroom walls are decorated with various posters showing pictures, numbers, letters and words.
Impact 24. Once students start their individual reading activities they make clear progress in their ability to read and write. Students who successfully complete their assignments are declared as having passed and so they no longer need extra tuition For example, while 11 students from 1B had to have the extra reading classes at the beginning of the year, this had gradually come down to 8 students. 25. Students' interest in reading and their motivation has improved. Some students have even challenged the teacher to give them extra reading assignments. 26. Classroom learning in general improves. Children's literacy progress has a direct effect on their understanding of all the lessons in the classroom. Literacy is a fundamental skill and a major factor in improving students' ability to learn in all subject areas. 27. The school examination is better implemented. Prior to the literacy problem resolution program, instructions for the school tests had to be read out to the grade one students. Now they can read slowly but with no difficulty. The grade two students can read independently and are making good progress.
Reading park in neighbourhood 01 Tanjung Lapang
The case study of the reading park in neighbourhood (RT) 01 Tanjung Lapang included interviews and observations. We interviewed the head of the neighbourhood, the organising team, parents, teachers and two students. The Tanjung Lapang reading park is located at Jalan Rueb Krayan 6, Tanjung Lapang village, West Malinau sub-district. The reading park started as a dream of Mr Bob Robert, the head of neighbourhood 1 in Tanjung Lapang village. He did not want to have children in his area who were illiterate and unable count. As the head of neighbourhood, Mr Bob had the idea of establishing a reading park at the beginning of 2017. He conveyed this idea to the head of Malinau district in April 2017 and had a positive response. In the same month, the reading park was opened by the district head, Dr Yansen. The opening was marked by books being donated to the reading park. The best practices found in this project are as follows:
1. From various donations and Mr Bob's own family book collection, the reading park began with at least 400 books. The donations were from the district head, the head of the family welfare program and the head of the regional administrative working units.
72 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 2. The reading park operates from Monday to Saturday from from four to five-thirty in the afternoon. By this time the children have come home from school and the organisers have returned from work. 3. The reading park was created to provide a reading facility for children in primary school because they were the target of literacy improvement but some students in grades two, three and four still have limited reading skills. Children from other levels, such as early childhood, junior secondary and senior secondary schools can also take advantage of this reading park to improve their literacy skills. 4. This reading park could benefit children in neighbourhood 1 who go to SDN 02 located in neighbourhood 4. The library at SDN 02 has long been inactive. 5. The reading park organised a competition on traffic signs for children, working together with the Malinau police department. Primary and junior secondary school children living in neighbourhood 1 participated in the competition and participants were asked to show the traffic signs and read out the questions to the other children. This competition was also useful because this information is not taught at school. 6. The reading park is a place to read and play. Children with less ability to read are motivated by their more fluent friends. Even students who cannot read yet enjoy looking at the colourful children's books, getting ready to read and getting used to books as a source of pleasure. 7. The reading parks provided various kinds of books, for example, books on the alphabet, spelling books, storybooks for children at primary level, as well as textbooks for primary and junior secondary school students. 8. Three university students who were on holiday in Malinau conducted activities in the reading park for two months. These included activities to teach children to read, write and count. 9. After the reading park was established, children’s reading ability at school improved. They were also better able to retell stories that they had read. This progress was observed by a primary teacher who was living in a different neighbourhood. 10. The children who attended the reading park had more self-confidence. This was evident when they took part in competitions and had to perform in front of their friends. 11. Children became more motivated and developed a passion for reading once the reading park was set up. Children are clearly excited to be reading at the park. When they arrive, they look at all the books on the shelves, pick out an interesting one, find a place in a shelter or on a bench under the tree and start reading. 12. Literacy and learning abilities in school have generally increased. A resident of neighbourhood 1, who is a teacher at SDN 02 in West Malinau, located in neighbourhood 4, said that students attending the reading park were making good progress in reading. The reading park had an impact on their literacy ability and their general progress at school. The students had more courage and confidence.
73 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 6. CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 CONCLUSIONS
The followings are the conclusions from the baseline study in North Kalimantan: 1. Educational issues relating to literacy, numeracy and inclusion are found in North Kalimantan. 2. Different concepts of what constitutes quality education were found among education stakeholders, such as teachers, parents, communities and local education officers. 3. Educational challenges identified in North Kalimantan are, among others: limited competence of teachers; lack of parent or community involvement; and teacher distribution issues. 4. The local governments have implemented some local solutions to overcome literacy and numeracy issues. 5. Best practices to overcome literacy and numeracy issues are being used in some schools and communities. 6. Leadership is a key issue. 7. The local educational office has empowered the existing teachers' working groups to improve teachers' skills. 8. While a budget for educational improvements is allocated in the local financial plans it is mainly used for infrastructure.
6.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
We gathered information from personnel working in the provincial offices and district offices of Bulungan and Malinau. Thus, the findings cannot be generalised for the whole North Kalimantan province or other areas in Indonesia. The approach of the study was qualitative and descriptive, using four assessment methods: in- depth interviews, focus group discussions, observation and case studies and this may limit the information collected.
6.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations related to the findings are categorised into four topic areas: education challenges; local solutions; teachers' working groups and partnerships. Ten recommendations related to education challenges are described here. For the existing local solutions, we also suggest some improvements. Recommendations related to partnerships are limited to the village fund and the district development planning meeting (Musrenbang). Further actions that the local provincial and district governments could implement are elaborated in this section.
1. Improve teachers' competence Adequate teacher education will have an impact on the quality of the teaching and teachers’ competence. Even teachers who have bachelor's degrees or equivalent academic qualifications do not always demonstrate their highest level of competence. Teachers' competence tests conducted by the Directorate General of Teachers and Education Personnel of the Ministry of National Education (2012) found that 850,000 teachers achieved unsatisfactory results. The average score on the competence test was 43 (out of 100). The scores achieved by teachers with bachelor's degree level qualification did not differ significantly from those achieved by teachers without qualifications. Therefore, the local government needs to continuously appraise the performance of teachers to keep
74 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan them motivated. Teachers' professionalism will have the most impact on the quality of learning in the classroom.
2. Improve the quality of education services The limited quality of education services offered by local governments has not helped the efforts to improve the quality of teaching. This is partly because teacher training institutes have not been involved in the planning and procurement process for teachers based on the teacher needs analyses by region (district/city). Therefore, cooperation between the local government and teacher training institutes needs to be improved.
3. Improve availability of teachers and education personnel The distribution of teachers in the region cannot be evaluated only based on the adequate teacher– student ratios. The process of recruiting teachers has not been integrated between regions, resulting in more teachers in urban areas and a shortage of teachers in disadvantaged, remote and border areas (known as 3T areas). The limited availability of teachers is partly due to: • the district or local governments' limited capacity to effectively manage the recruitment and placement of teachers and their professional development; • lack of commitment to enforcing recruitment regulations based on strict quality criteria and the actual needs of the district; • not using teachers efficiently to improve the teacher–student ratio across the region; and • the lack of cooperation between local governments and teacher training institutes to ensure equitable teacher quality and availability.
Therefore, the local governments need to: • improve their planning in terms of the needs assessment, provision, appointment and distribution of educators; • improve local or regional capacity to manage recruitment effectively; • improve the quality of the teachers; • oversee the appointment process for teachers in the region based on the official quality criteria and regional needs; and • improve coordination between implementers of education.
4. Improve teachers' qualifications and professional certification The requirement that all teachers should have a minimum of a bacelor's level academic qualification is stated in Law no 14 of 2005. However, not all teachers have this qualification. In 2017, about two-thirds (63 per cent) of teachers in North Kalimantan had S1 or D4 qualifications. Law no 15 of 2005 states that teachers must have academic qualifications, competence, professional certification, be healthy and able to implement the goals of national education. However, only 33 per cent of teachers in North Kalimantan are certified.
5. Guarantee the quality of education services One reason for the low quality of education service delivery is that local government is not fully committed to fulfilling the basic education standards as stated in the National education regulation no 10 of 2010 and its amendment no 23 of 2013. This is exacerbated by many teachers in remote and rural areas being less qualified than teachers in urban areas, resulting in poor education services and low achievement levels in rural and remote areas. In this context, efforts to increase the teacher– student ratios do not have a major effect on student learning outcomes, especially when compared to the national average. Therefore, the following actions are recommended: • Improve distribution and fulfil teaching expenses; • Conduct capacity building for district and city governments so they can effectively manage efficient recruitment and placement of teachers and improve the quality of teachers;
75 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan • District government and schools need to enforce the rules for appointing teachers that are based on strict quality criteria and the actual needs of the district; and • Use the teachers recruited more efficiently by improving the teacher–student ratio where necessary and maximising their value by instituting multi-grade and multi-subject teaching.
6. Improve distribution of teachers One of the priorities of educational development for the period 2015–2019 is achieving the 12-year compulsory education plan (MoEC 2015).This is to ensure that all children aged 7–18 years attend school and complete the full 12 years of education. Factors affecting the quality of education include: availability of teachers; facilities; affordability; and the quality of services provided to support quality teaching and learning processes. Lower teacher–student ratios are a strong indicator of inefficiency in the use of teachers. Therefore, we need to increase the number and improve the distribution of teachers so that they are empowered and successful in producing qualified graduates.
7. Improve the intensity of supervision Based on the interviews and focus group discussions, one school supervisor is responsible for supervising 10 to 15 schools. The large number of target schools and the lack of access to many of the schools results in ineffective and inefficient supervision. Therefore, the local government needs to improve the distribution of school supervisors so that they can fulfil their roles effectively. Providing life insurance perks and facilities for school supervisors assigned to difficult areas may be good incentives. In addition, skills development, career paths and their ranking in the education structure should be clarified.
8. Local educational offices should empower existing teachers and principals' working groups to improve their competencies.
9. Local government should select best practices that can be scaled up within the district to overcome literacy and numeracy challenges. School principals with good leadership can share their experiences using the principals' forum.
10. Schools and educational offices should encourage the community and parents to participate in developing their schools.
76 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan 7. REFERENCES
Central Bureau of Statistics (Badan Pusat Statistik – BPS), National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). 2013. The 2010-2035 Indonesia population projection. Jakarta UNFPA/BPS. Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) 2009. Tabel Statistik Indikator Sosial Budaya [Socio-cultural indicator statistics] Jakarta: BPS. Available online at: http://www.bps.go.id Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS). 2017. Kabupaten Bulungan dalam angka 2016/ Bulungan regency in figures 2016. [Publication in Bahasa and English]. Jakarta: BPS. Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS). 2017. Kabupaten Malinau dalam angka 2016/ Malinau regency in figures 2016. [Publication in Bahasa and English]. Jakarta: BPS Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS). 2018. Provinsi Kalimantan Timur dalam angka 2017 [East Kalimantan province in figures 2017]. [Publication in Bahasa]. Jakarta: BPS. Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS). 2018. Provinsi Kalimantan Utara dalam angka 2017. [North Kalimantan province in figures 2017]. [Publication in Bahasa]. Jakarta: BPS. Central Connecticut State University.2016. World's most literate nations ranked. Online database available at: http://webcapp.ccsu.edu/?news=1767&data Education Sector Analytical and Capacity Development Partnership (ACDP). 2014. Study on teacher absenteeism in Indonesia. Jakarta: ACDP. Foreman P. 2002. Integration and inclusion in action. Second edition., Southbank, Victoria: Nelson Australia Pty Limited. Garnida D. 2009. Sistem dukungan penyelenggaraan pendidikan inklusi: Studi tentang peran dan fungsi sistem dukungan dalam penyelenggaraan pendidikan inklusi di kota Bandung. [The Inclusive education implementation support system: Study of the role and function of the support system in implementing inclusive education in the city of Bandung]. Ministry of National Education Inclusion Journal. Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA). 2007. Grand design Kementerian Agama Republik Indonesia Tahun 2007. [Grand design for the Ministry of Religious Affairs 2007]. Jakarta: MoRA. Malinau Regional Government. 2018. Rencana kerja dan anggaran 2018 [Work plan and budget 2018]. [Document in Bahasa]. Prepared by the regional work unit for the district education office. Malinau City: Regional office. Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC) Data referensi pendidikan dan kebudayaan [Education and culture reference data]. [ Website in Bahasa] current data available online at: http://referensi.data.kemdikbud.go.id/index11.php Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC). 2015. Indonesian education statistics in brief 2015/2016. Jakarta: Centre for Education Statistics and Data, MoEC. Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC). 2015. Rencana strategis 2015–2019 [Five-year development plan]. Jakarta: MoEC. MoEC. 2010 refers to BPS. 2009. Tabel Statistik Indikator Sosial Budaya. http://www.bps.go.id Ministry of Education and Culture, Basic Education Data (Data Pokok Pendidikan – DAPODIK). 2017. Nilai rata-rata ujian nasional [Average national examination scores]. Available online at: http://jendela.data.kemdikbud.go.id Ministry of Finance (MoF). 2017. Buku saku dana desa. [Village fund guidelines] . Jakarta: MoF. Ministry of National Education (MoNE). 2017. Panduan literasi [Literacy guide]. Jakarta: MoNE. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 2014. PISA 2012 results. What students know and can do: student performance in mathematics, reading and science Volume 1 revised edition. Paris: OECD Publishing.
77 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)/Asian Development Bank (ADB). 2015. Education in Indonesia: rising to the challenge. Paris: OECD. World Bank. 2017. Teacher policy assessment in Indonesia. Jakarta: World Bank
Indonesian government legislation Government regulation no 73 of 2005 concerning Villages Government regulation no 74 of 2008 concerning Teachers Joint ministerial regulation (Five ministerial decree) of the Minister of National Education, State Minister for Administrative Reform and Bureaucratic Reform, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Finance and Minister of Religious Affairs no 05 / X / PB of 2011, no SPB / 03 / M.PAN-RB / 10 of 2011, no 48 of 2011, no 158 / PMK.01 of 2011, no 11 of 2011 concerning the Arrangement and equity of civil servant teachers Law no 14 of 2005 concerning Teachers and lecturers Law no 20 of 2003 concerning the National education system Law no 23 of 2002 concerning Child protection Law no 28 of 2002 concerning Building Law no 4 of 1997 concerning Disabilities Ministry of National Education regulation no 23 of 2013 concerning Literacy Ministry of National Education regulation no 11 of 2008 concerning Certification for teachers Ministry of National Education regulation no 11 of 2009 concerning Accreditation standards for primary schools Ministry of National Education regulation no 12 of 2007 concerning Standards for school supervisors Ministry of National Education regulation no 13 of 2007 concerning Standards for school principals Ministry of National Education regulation no 14 of 2007 concerning Standards for the course contents of the A, B, and C education packages Ministry of National Education regulation no 15 of 2010 concerning Basic education minimum service standards Ministry of National Education regulation no 16 of 2007 concerning Academic qualification standards for teachers and teachers' competence Ministry of National Education regulation no 19 of 2007 concerning Education management standards for primary and secondary schools Ministry of National Education regulation no 20 of 2007 concerning Education assessment standards Ministry of National Education regulation no 20 of 2016 concerning Competency standards of primary and secondary school graduates Ministry of National Education regulation no 24 of 2007 concerning Standards for facilities and infrastructure in primary and secondary schools Ministry of National Education regulation no 3 of 2008 concerning Standards for the equal education program, packages A, B and C Ministry of National Education regulation no 41 of 2007 concerning Process standards for primary and secondary schools Ministry of National Education regulation no 70 of 2009 concerning Inclusive education Ministry of National Education regulation no 84 of 2008 concerning Guidelines for implementing gender mainstreaming in the education sector National constitution 1945 Presidential instruction no 5 of 2006 concerning the National movement for the acceleration of compulsory basic education and the eradication of illiteracy Presidential instruction no 9 of 2000 concerning Gender mainstreaming in national development.
78 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan
79 Baseline Report – North Kalimantan