Improving school capacity building has become one of the major themes in research on educational effectiveness. This study investigates the implementation of the International Standard School (SBI) policy in Indonesia which can be seen as an example of the efforts of a particular country to improve school capacity building. Disappointingly little is understood about people’s perception about educational activity, in this case, pertaining to international standard schools. Using the program coherence dimension of a capacity building framework, a qualitative study was conducted in a secondary school located in a small region in West Java, Indonesia, that is involved in the program. This study found that the interpretation of the SBI policy was changing, and that establishing international standard classrooms is the salient aspect of the implementation of the policy. This study revealed that becoming an SBI school has positive consequences with regard to the acknowledgment of its quality by the central government. One consequence is that the SBI School can collect from parents extra funds amounting to about ten times more than the school receives from the central government. The document analysis reveals the SBI School’s major difficulty in fulfilling the ‘international requirements’ is the mastery of the English language by their teachers.
Keywords: Indonesian education development International standard school School capacity building Indonesian public secondary schoolColeman, H. (2009, 23–25, June). Indonesia’s international standard schools: What are they for? Paper presented at the 8th Language and Development Conference, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Coleman, H. (2011, March). Teaching other subjects through English in three Asian Nations: A review. Paper presented in Internationalisation in Education: Implications for ELT (English Language Teaching) in Indonesia, Jakarta: Indonesia.
Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design, qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and Research design, choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Darling-Hammond, L. (2009). Recognising and enhancing teacher effectiveness. The International Journal of Education and Psychological Assessment, 3, 1–24.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1998). The landscape of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Depdiknas (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia). (2001). Hasil Monitoring program Manajemen Peningkatan Mutu Berbasis Sekolah (School Based Quality Improvement Management Monitoring Result). Jakarta: Direktorat SLTP dan Universitas Negeri Semarang.
Depdiknas (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia). (2007). Panduan Penyelenggaraan Rintisan SMA Bertaraf Internasional (Guide Book of Pioneering International Standard School Program at Secondary School Level). Jakarta: Direktorat Pembinaan SMA, Dirjen Manajemen Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah, Depdiknas.
Depdiknas (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia). (2008). Panduan Penyelenggaraan Rintisan SMA Bertaraf Internasional (Guide Book of Pioneering International Standard School Program at Secondary School Level). Jakarta: Direktorat Pembinaan SMA, Dirjen Manajemen Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah, Depdiknas.
Depdiknas (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia). (2009). Panduan Penyelenggaraan Rintisan SMA Bertaraf Internasional (Guide Book of Pioneering International Standard School Program at Secondary School Level). Jakarta: Direktorat Pembinaan SMA, Dirjen Manajemen Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah, Depdiknas.
Fitriah, A. (2010). Community participation in education: Does decentralization matter? An Indonesian case study of parental participation in school management. Unpublished master Thesis, Palmerston North, New Zealand: Massey University.
Fitriah, A., Sumintono, B., Subekti, N. B., & Hassan, Z. (2013). A different result of community participation in education: An Indonesian case study of parental participation in public primary schools. Asia Pacific Education Review. doi:10.1007/s12564-013-9275-8.
Fontana, A. & Frey, J. H. (2000). The Interview, from structured questions to negotiated text. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Fullan, M. (2000). The return of large-scale reform. Journal of Educational Change, 1, 5–28.
Harris, A. (2001). Building the capacity for school improvement. School Leadership and Management, 21(3), 261–270.
Harris, A., & Lambert, L. (2003). Building leadership capacity for school improvement. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.
Hattie, J. (2002). What are the attributes of excellent teachers? In the New Zealand council for educational research, teachers make a difference: What is the research evidence? Wellington: NZCER.
Hodder, I. (2000). The interpretation of documents and material culture. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Hopkins, D, & Jackson, D. (2003). Building the capacity for leading and learning. In A. Harris, C. Day, M. Hadfield, D. Hopkins, A. Hargreaves, & C. Chapman (Eds.), Effective leadership for school improvement. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
Indriyanto, B. (2003). School-based management: Issues and hopes toward decentralization in education in Indonesia. Paper presented at the 3rd International Forum on Education Reform. Bangkok, Thailand, 8–11 September 2003. http://www.worldedreform.com/intercon3/third/f_bumbang.pdf. Retrieved February 14, 2006.
King, M. B., & Newman, F. M. (2001). Building school capacity through professional development: Conceptual and empirical consideration. The International Journal of Educational Management, 15(2), 86–93.
Kompas, T. (2009). Waduh, Bahasa Inggris 600 Guru RSBI Ternyata ‘Memble’ (English ability of 600 SBI teachers is far from good). http://edukasi.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/06/24/17410455/waduh.bahasa.inggris.600.guru.rsbi.ternyata. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
Kristiansen, S., & Pratikno, (2006). Decentralizing education in Indonesia. International Journal of Educational Development, 26, 513–531.
Kustulasari, A. (2009). The international standard school project in Indonesia: A policy document analysis. Unpublished MA Thesis, The Ohio State University. http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi/Kustulasari%20Ag.pdf?acc_num=osu1242851740.
Lumbanraja, S. (2012). Expanding international education in Indonesia: An analytical map of government and NGO construction of education policy. Unpublished MA Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/12026/1/Sharon_Master%27s_Thesis_ETD_Template_EDIT_PDF.pdf.
Martiyanti, E. (2008). 200 SMA Dirintis Jadi Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional (200 secondary schools started to become international standard schools). (A Government Press Release). http://mandikdasmen.aptisi3.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=11. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Punch, K. (2009). Introduction to research methods in education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Raihani, (2007). Education reform in Indonesia in the twenty-first century. International Education Journal, 8(1), 172–183.
Raihani, R., & Sumintono, B. (2010). Teacher education in Indonesia: Development and challenges. In K. G. Karras & C. C. Wolhuter (Eds.), International handbook of teachers education worldwide: Training, issues and challenges for teachers profession. Athens: Atraphos Edition.
Schwandt, T.A. (2000). Three epistemological stances for qualitative inquiry: Interpretivism, hermeneutics and social construction. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincolns (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Stake, R.E. (2000). Case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Subijanto. (2000). Pemantauan Pelaksanaan Program Bantuan Operasional Manajemen Mutu (BOMM) di SMUN 10 Surabaya (Studi Kasus) (A case study of monitoring of quality improvement operational assistance programme at state secondary School Number 10 in Surabaya). Jurnal Dikbud 27.
Sumintono, B. (2009). School based management policies and practices in Indonesia. Koln: Lambert Academic Publishing.
Supriadi, D. (2003). Satuan Biaya Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah (Educational costs of primary and secondary schooling). Bandung: Remaja Rosdakarya.
Umaedy. (1999). Manajemen Peningkatan Mutu Berbasis Sekolah (School-based quality improvement management). Jakarta: Ministry of Education and Culture.
Winarti, A. (2008). State schools found favouring wealthier students. The Jakarta Post. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/06/27/state-schools-found-favoring-wealthier-students.html. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
Yin, R. K. (1994). Case study research, design and methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.