The Long Road to Improving the Education System

Educational transformation must be carried out seriously, without being grandiose and sustainable.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI. The original article can be found in Jalan Panjang Membenahi Sistem Pendidikan

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

The students of SDN 07 Ujung Menteng, East Jakarta, practiced dancing as an implementation of character building in the Merdeka Belajar Curriculum on Friday (12/5/2023). The school is implementing the Student Pancasila Profile Strengthening Project (P5) with various interesting theme activities, including introducing their respective local cultures, such as practicing traditional dances.

The results of the Program for International Student Assessment scoresor Program for International Student Assessment or PISA 2022, which were announced in early December 2023, put the Indonesian education system as not yet on par with developed countries. This must be addressed seriously.

In essence, education serves as a foundation to ensure that all citizens acquire basic skills that are relevant to the demands of the times. The results of PISA measurement can serve as a basis to reform the education system in a sustainable manner.

Referring to the results of the National Assessment (AN) which also evaluates the education system from the level of educational units, regions, and nation, Indonesia is still struggling to improve the quality and relevance of its education system. Basic literacy, numeracy, and character skills are still not satisfactory. The education ecosystem, ranging from learning environments, teacher quality, to government / regional government commitment to quality and inclusive education, is also not aligned and evenly distributed.

Also read: PISA 2022 and Reflections on Indonesian Education

The educational lag is not just about improving the quality and enjoyment of learning practices by teachers. Non-academic issues that Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim referred to as the three great sins of education, namely sexual violence, bullying, and tolerance, are still plaguing the education system.

The changing landscape of education in the wake of digitalization and the Covid-19 pandemic necessitates a new social contract between students, teachers, knowledge, and the world. The education system must be able to strengthen each individual's capacity to anticipate future changes.

Overcoming backwardness

Since 2019, the government has offered educational transformation through "Merdeka Belajar" (Freedom to Learn). Various episodes of Merdeka Belajar have been rolled out to ensure that the fundamental, comprehensive, and technology-driven educational transformation can overcome shortcomings. After four years, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology is increasingly confident that Merdeka Belajar is a foothold for making the educational ecosystem move together, making it a movement towards meaningful and sustainable change.

Head of the Education Standards, Curriculum, and Assessment Agency of the Ministry of Education and Culture and Ministry of Research and Technology, Anindito Aditomo, stated that usually transformations or reform initiatives are done in a fragmented manner. However, Merdeka Belajar offers a holistic or comprehensive reform.

"So, it's not about tinkering with the curriculum or assessment separately, but rather aligning them. It's also not just about changing these two things, but about the way we recruit teachers, recruit and train school principals, and provide school operating funds," said Anindito.

Anindito stated that Merdeka Belajar began by launching the National Assessment (AN) in 2019 to encourage all parties to see it as part of a more systemic effort. The reason is that the first requirement for any systemic change is agreement and clarity of the direction of change.

Utilizing the results of the National Examinations that are returned to educational units and regions in the form of Education Reports does indeed face challenges. "This needs to be taken slowly as not everyone has the same capacity to use this data immediately. However, we have seen many good practices," said Anindito.

Also read: Climbing the Path to Quality Education without being pretentious

Confidence in a transformative and relevant education is also demonstrated by changing the Curriculum 2013 to the Merdeka Curriculum. In the new curriculum, learning is no longer focused on the breadth of knowledge, but on what students can do with knowledge. The curriculum is also designed to give teachers time to teach reasoning and character.

Regarding the sustainability of Merdeka Belajar, Nadiem is confident that all educators across Indonesia will continue to implement it. "I believe that mother and father teachers as the captains do not want to change the direction of the Merdeka Belajar ship. This conviction grows from the things we have achieved together in the past four years," said Nadiem during the National Teacher's Day commemoration ceremony in 2023.

Not grandiose

The transformation of education in Indonesia, which is now shifting towards quality, according to the Director of Research at Program Research on Improving System of Education (RISE), Professor Lant Pritchett, must dare to focus on essential matters and avoid being ambitious. The current education system will not be able to bring Indonesia to the next level unless it focuses on fundamental and sustainable principles.

The journey of Indonesia's education system since the 1970s, which focused on increasing access and participation, has indeed been successful. However, now Indonesia needs to level up to ensure that students master basic skills. This is because long hours of learning in the classroom and high teacher attendance rates at school do not guarantee a quality learning process that enables students to understand basic concepts.

KOMPAS/FABIO M LOPES COSTA

Delivery of class learning material using the mother tongue curriculum in PAUD Papua Cerdas Mandiri, Jayapura Regency, Papua, May 9, 2019. The learning innovation, which started in 2015, aims to reduce the high illiteracy rate in the interior of Papua.

According to Pritchett, there are five serious actions that should be taken which include a commitment to learning foundations, measuring learning to provide feedback, aligning systems, supporting teaching, and adapting policies and practices to achieve sustainable progress in accordance with the local context.

"Although these five actions are commonly known, they are often not carried out in the education system and require profound changes to achieve and implement them," said Pritchett.

Meanwhile, Innovation Program Director Mark Heyward added, from the results of the study contained in the book Rising Stronger: Study of Learning Gaps, there are a number of differentiating factors that determine the recovery and transformation of education in schools. Good achievements depend on the leadership of the principal, adjustments to teaching practices by teachers, intrinsic motivation of teachers, and support from other parties (government, other teachers, non-governmental organizations, and students' parents).

Schools only fill one-third of students' awareness space.

"The ongoing educational transformation requires time and is heading in the right direction while continuously being adapted. Political commitment should actually accelerate and improve what is still not right," said Mark. (Note: There are no forbidden words in this article)

Head of Education Advocacy Department for the Teachers Association, Iman Zanatul Haeri stated that there are numerous programs and policies to reform the education system. However, the implementation has always been a problem. The approach often involves pressure or coercion. Schools are pressured in a vertical-formalist approach to comply with various policies with the Ministry pressuring the Department, then the Department pressures the supervisors and schools.

One example is handling violence in the educational unit environment. The real form of this implementation is tangled with school activities, teacher training, and academic schedules that have been planned since the beginning of the new school year. Apart from that, we never thought about how to implement this from a budget perspective. In the end, schools only hold anti-violence seminars or post self-declaration statements as "child-friendly schools" or "anti-bullying schools."

Imam stated that, from a broader perspective, our students are products of their environment. Schools only fill one third of students' consciousness. Referring to Ki Hadjar Dewantara, a Tri-center of Education is needed for the education process to run at its best, which includes school, family, and community education.

"It is ironic that schools bear all these burdens when families and communities are not present in educating our students," said Imam.