Some Factors Related to Educational Attainment in Indonesian Primary Schools Laurens Kaluge Institute of Education University of London Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) October 1998 1 ABSTRACT As a part of the research tradition on school effectiveness in a developing country, this study focusses on cognitive aspects of educational attainment in Indonesian urban state primary schools. The main aim of this thesis is to identify factors at pupil, classroom and school level associated with pupil academic attainment and progress. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain a sample of 5118 pupils from 60 primary schools. In each school three upper grades (4-6) were selected, with their 180 class teachers and 60 headteachers. As a longitudinal survey, data were collected through questionnaires and school archives. Taking pupil prior year attainment as baseline, multilevel statistical techniques were used on assessments at the end of the school year to examine factors related to pupil, classroom and school levels which were related to pupils' attainment a year later. The results of this study showed some similarities and differences of predictive factors at different levels of analyses and variations across the grades. The proportion of total variance in pupil attainment for language at the school level ranged from 14 to nearly 23 per cent. In mathematics the school influence was larger (range 20 to 29 per cent of the variance was explained by the school). Pupil's gender and age, father's occupation, teacher's age, and the frequency of school meetings appeared to be significant negative predictors for certain attainment and grades. However, father's and mother's education, home language, books and newspapers at home, teacher's gender, in-service training in mathematics, teacher-gender proportion were significant positive predictors for certain attainments and grades. The most and least effective schools for each subject and grade in terms of residual estimates from the multilevel analysis were also identified. The issue of consistency in effects was examined both in relation to the two subjects and across grades. The findings contribute to current knowledge of Indonesian primary school effectiveness. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis was possible due to the contribution of many people. Therefore I would like to thank those who have played their different roles until this report was launched: ♦ Professor Kathy Sylva, Dr Iram Siraj-Blatchford and Dr Pam Sammons acted as supervisors. Thank you for your guidance, persistent help, tolerance and encouragement throughout the duration of the research. Your expertise was much appreciated. ♦ Dr Ian Plewis, Dr Louise Stoll, Dr Abby Riddell as former supervisors for helping in shaping and establishing the embryo of this thesis. ♦ Professor Harvey Goldstein, Dr Min Yang, Dr Sally Thomas for introducing, teaching, and helping me in using the multilevel software programme (MLn) and solving technical problems and interpretation related to it. ♦ Professor Sunarto (Head of IKIP Surabaya Research Institution), Drs Wignyo (Head of Department of Education and Culture - Malang Municipality), the school inspectors, headteachers, teachers, children and their parents for enabling me to collect the data - thank you. ♦ All the Indonesian research assistants for helping me with the data collection and data entry. At times, these activities must have been boring and exhausting. ♦ The Primary School Teacher Development Project - Jakarta, for funding this study. ♦ Staff at the Media Section and the Computer Help Desk at the Institute of Education University of London who helped me in producing some technical materials for this thesis. ♦ Dr Ursula Pretzlik, Dr Milita Nabuco, Dr Celina Kwan, friends and fellow research students in Child Development and Learning for their comments, suggestions, and motivation throughout my stay at the Institute of Education in London. ♦ The Rector and the former Rector of IKIP Surabaya who recommended and supported me for pursuing the PhD degree. Also colleagues, staff members at the 3 Faculty of Education - IKIP Surabaya who always keep in touch and help me with administrative matters. ♦ Anna Brett for proof-reading and comments. ♦ My parents, wife, and children for their continuous support, understanding, patience, and confidence in me during this long process. Thank you. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Title-page 1 Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 Table of Contents 5 List of Tables 10 List of Figures 13 List of Appendices 14 PREFACE 17 CHAPTER ONE PRIMARY EDUCATION IN INDONESIA: PAST AND PRESENT 21 A. Education in the Pre-Colonial Period 21 1. Hindu and Buddhist Influence 21 2. The Islamic Influence 23 B. Education in the Colonial Period 24 1. The Portuguese and Dutch Occupation 25 2. The Japanese Occupation 28 C. Education in the Post-Colonial Period: The Beginning of Educational Expansion 28 D. New Order Period: The Current Educational Expansion 31 1. Budget and Resources under Presidential Decree 32 2. Teachers 33 3. Pupil Participation Rate 34 4. Pupil Flow 34 E. Perceived Problems 36 CHAPTER TWO SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH 40 A. Definition of School Effectiveness 40 5 B. Past and Current Models of SER 41 1. Input-output approach 42 2. Process-product approach 45 3. Integrated or hierarchical approach 48 C. SER in the Developing Countries 56 1. SER in Non-Indonesian settings 56 a. Typical features of single-level studies 57 b. Some multilevel studies 59 2. SER in Indonesia 61 D. The model of the present study 64 1. Pupil level 66 a. Pupil characteristics 66 b. Family background 66 2. Class level 68 a. Teacher characteristics 68 b. Teacher pedagogy 68 c. Leadership as perceived by teachers 69 d. Classroom condition 70 3. School level 71 a. Headteacher characteristics 71 b. Headteacher professional development 71 c. School condition 71 CHAPTER THREE THE STUDY DESIGN, INSTRUMENTS, AND PROCEDURES 73 A. Design of study 73 1. Research questions 73 2. Type of study 74 3. Research setting and sampling 76 a. Research setting: Malang, East Java 76 b. Urban state primary schools as the focus 80 c. Sampling design 80 6 d. Response rate 81 B. Instruments 82 1. Questionnaire for pupils 82 2. Questionnaire for parents 84 3. Questionnare for teachers 85 4. Questionnaire for headteachers 88 5. Tests for pupil attainments 89 C. Procedures 90 1. Planning 90 a. Ethical considerations 91 b. Further considerations of reliability and validity 92 2. Data collection 93 3. Data processing and analysis 94 a. Exploring data 94 b. Modelling data 97 CHAPTER FOUR EXPLORING THE VARIABLE CHARACTERISTICS AND RELATIONSHIPS 101 A. The attainments 101 B. The Pupil Characteristics and Home Background 104 1. Pupil characteristics 104 2. Parents' occupations 105 3. Parents' Education 106 4. Family Constellation 107 5. Home Learning Environment 108 6. Parental Encouragement 109 7. The Intercorrelation of Pupil Level Variables 110 C. Teacher and Class Characteristics 111 1. Teacher Characteristics 111 2. Teacher Qualifications 112 3. Teacher Pedagogy 113 7 4. Leadership perception 116 5. Classroom context 117 6. The Intercorrelation of Class Level Variables 118 D.Headteacher and School Characteristics 118 1. Headteacher 118 2. School context 120 3. The Intercorrelation of School Level Variables 121 CHAPTER FIVE MODELLING PUPIL, CLASS, AND SCHOOL FACTORS 123 A. Multilevel Modelling 123 1. Models for Grade 4 Indonesian Language 125 2. Models for Grade 4 Mathematics 128 3. Models for Grade 5 Indonesian Language 131 4. Models for Grade 5 Mathematics 133 5. Models for Grade 6 Indonesian Language 135 6. Models for Grade 6 Mathematics 138 7. Summary of Variances and Explanatory Variables 140 B. The identification of School Effectiveness 142 1. Results from Diagnostic Residuals 142 2. Results from Comparative Residuals 146 a. Grade 4 Indonesian Language and Mathematics 146 b. Grade 5 Indonesian Language and Mathematics 148 c. Grade 6 Indonesian Language and Mathematics 150 d. Indonesian Language Across the Grades 151 e. Mathematics Across the Grades 155 f. Summary Remarks 159 CHAPTER SIX DISCUSSIONS: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 161 A. Empirical Findings 161 8 1. Pupil and class/school variation 162 2. Baseline effects 165 3. Child background factors 165 4. Class related factors 167 5. School related factors 168 6. Effective school characteristics 169 B. Limitations 170 C. Theoretical Implications 171 1. Methodological aspect 171 2. The theoretical models 173 D. Implications for Future Research 176 E. Implications for Education in Indonesia 178 1. Improvement through school comparison 179 2. Factors external to the school 179 3. Factors internal to the school 181 F. Final Remarks 183 References 184 Appendices 212 9 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Selected Demographic and Educational Characteristics 35 in Indonesia Table 1.2 A Comparative Results in Indonesian Language 38 and Mathematics Table 2.1 Components of Carroll's Model 45 Table 2.2 Walberg's Nine Factors 46 Table 2.3 Eleven Factors of Effective Schools 53 Table 3.1 Selected Demographic and Educational Characteristics 77 of East Java Table 3.2 Primary Schools in Malang Municipality - 1996 78 Table 3.3 The Description of Population and Sample of Pupils 81 Table 3.4 Response Rate of Pupils 82 Table 3.5 Aspects of Home Learning Environment - Variables 83 and Indicators Table 3.6 Teacher Characteristics 86 Table 3.7 Aspects of Teacher Pedagogy 86 Table 3.8 Leadership Dimensions 87 Table 3.9 Headteacher Personal Characteristics 88