The School Self-Evaluation Program in the Public Primary School System in Indonesia: Towards Quality Improvement of Collaborative School Supervision Quality

Abstract

This policy implementation case study is inspired by two urgent needs; first the necessity across Indonesia to undertake quality assurance implementation; and, secondly, the necessity for a shift of paradigm to improve supervision service delivery mechanisms by frontline officials. The national implementation practice of school self-evaluation was developed to enculturate quality assurance activities based on data-information within the school domain. The intent was for this process to enable effective learning processes not only inside classrooms but in the school as a learning organization. The study is designed to explore the knowledge utilization management within the school self-evaluation implementation practices across the Indonesian system and its impact on local government-school coordination, through a focussed case study of implementation actions in a single district in the large Indonesian education system. A survey of the literature in policy implementation analysis has revealed that any policy outcome at ground level depends on many interpretations and knowledge transfer processes from many actors. The quality of the coordination relationship between many officials across a number of layers of administration in a system offers an insight into the perceptions of the policy to be implemented and the various interpretations of issues that arise. Thus, the study aims to examine the complexities associated with the implementation of the promulgated policy from the Central Government of Indonesia with regard to introducing the School Self-Evaluation approach as part of a quality agenda for all Indonesian Government schools. The policy implementation will be investigated by disentangling what is unique and common in the coordination relationship between managerial and frontline officials at both central and local government culminating in a case study of one administrative system of a province in East Java which is well known for its successful story of the school self-evaluation implementation (Tandes District in the thesis which is a pseudonym). How this policy initiative impacts on local government and school coordination within a collaborative school supervision service quality context is the focus of the case study element that finally may contribute to improve the quality policy implementation process in the Indonesia Education System. Between 2008 and 2010, AusAID with its Australia-Indonesia Basic Education Program conducted a school and district self-evaluation piloting program consisting of 17 districts across Indonesia’s 30 provinces. Within a close period of time, between 2006 and 2009, USAID with its Decentralization Basic Education Program also conducted a project aiming at improving the school and local government school management and governance. Tandes District in East Java Province in Indonesia, participated in both of these programs. Some key individuals from Tandes District Education Office subsequently were recruited as facilitators to provide best practices and training of trainers (ToT) to support the national implementation practice of School Self-Evaluation at 29,000 schools in 2010 across Indonesia., The present study chose Tandes District in East Java Province as the local site for the case study because of its length of experience and sustainability in implementing the School Self-Evaluation practices which would provide a suitable base of perceptions and considerations of practice, process and issues that have arisen. Taking the form of interpretive description within a qualitative methodology, suits best to study people’s experiences which are practice-based in the context of their interpersonal relationship and when not enough is known about the phenomena (Patton, 2002). To cover a number of various participants with different settings, three methods of data generation consisting of an individual interview, participant observation and document analysis will be engaged in this Case Study. The study is an interpretive descriptive analysis within a qualitative methodology. It examines people's practice-based experiences and perceptions of the policy implementation across a sample of administrators, principals and teachers. Since the phenomena under investigation is less explored and there has been little research on the SSE implementation practice in Indonesia, the approach taken in this thesis offers an initial exploration of the multi-layered approach to implement this Policy. Three main significance of this study will be to provide future and current Quality Assurance (QA) program development by informing educational stakeholders in Indonesia about the following issues: 1. An understanding of the supports needed to meet the challenges of quality assured coordination in knowledge utilization within the QAP implementation practice of the self-evaluation initiative across a set of layers in the Education system of Indonesia; 2. The development a model of knowledge utilization of quality assured coordination derived from the integrated self-evaluation initiatives examined within the study 3. Suggestions for the improvement of the implementation processes of the Education System’s Quality Assurance policy as a school oriented learning process through policy knowledge utilization between administration actors across a set of layers.