The reform of secondary education in indonesia during the 1990s: Basic education expansion and quality improvement through curriculum decentralization

Abstract

This case study attempts to examine basic education expansion and curriculum reform policies in Indonesia during the last decade. The study focuses on the context of educational reform to understand its rationale as well as the content and process of the reform policies, and the main barriers to effective reform implementation. The study is based on a review of policy documents and interviews with key participants in the decision-making and monitoring process. The reforms in the 1990s were concerned with providing quality-basic-education opportunities through basic education expansion and decentralizing the administrative structure of curriculum development. The expansion of basic education has been very successful. However there were a number of problems associated with the decentralization of the curriculum and it ’s implementation: the implementation gap between the province and district level, the lack of appropriate teacher training, the teachers ’ passive attitudes toward the policy, and the scarcity of resources and funding.