Indonesian Curriculum 2013 Ten Years On: Impact on Mathematics Teaching

Abstract

The Indonesian Government introduced the 2013 Curriculum as an attempt to improve education within Indonesia. International comparisons showed that mathematics was a subject in which there was much room for improvement. As it is now ten years since the introduction of the new curriculum, it is time to review its implementation. A key element of the 2013 curriculum is using the Scientific Approach (observing, asking, exploring, associating, and communicating) as the fundamental pedagogy with a general emphasis on active learning. This study explores the extent to which this has been implemented within the classroom by utilizing various data sources, including student focus group discussions, classroom observations, documentation reviews and teacher interviews. This produced a multi-dimensional data set which reveals that ten years on from its introduction, the implementation of the Scientific approach in mathematics is, at best, inconsistent. In practice, there is still a great reliance on teacher-centered pedagogies, although lesson plans indicate an intent to promote more active learning. Students tend to remain passive and individual learners, although they express a strong desire to work together. Teachers report difficulties in finding appropriate learning media to facilitate active learning pedagogies and school infrastructures are often a hindrance to the use of the Scientific Approach.