The role of districts in supporting school leaders’ instructional leadership: a view and experience from a developing country

Abstract

The role of districts in supporting school leaders' instructional leadership: a view and experience from a developing country Introduction The downfall of Suharto's New Order regime in 1998 brought a fundamental change in the way Indonesia, the biggest country in South-East Asia spanning three time zones, was ruled. The Reform era started after the fall of the Suharto government in May 1998 and continued up until approximately a decade ago (Lindsey, 2018a, b). Nevertheless, the reforms are still underway.In fact, some of the most significant reforms in Indonesia's education system occurred in the last 17 years. Such reforms include the decentralization of education sector functions to the district level, an increased allocation of 20 percent of the national budget on education, implementation of the 2005 Teacher Law, and increased aid to schools with the School Operational Assistance Grant (Bantuan Operasional Sekolah) program (The World Bank, 2018). This Reform era ended the prior governance model of centralization, which actually began in the Dutch colonial era in the nineteenth century. This great change in terms of size, speed and scope of governance, referred to as the "big bang" decentralization model (Bennet, 2010), served as the beginning of democracy in Indonesia. This new policy was initiated through two laws made effective on January 1, 2001, called the Laws on Local Government, and the Laws on Fiscal Balance. These developments were described as "one of the most radical decentralization programs attempted anywhere in the world" (Aspinal and Fealy, 2003, p. 3). As a result, education, and other public sectors in Indonesia, became the responsibility of district governments.At that time, we were working as young teachers in public schools, and young lecturers in public universities. Like many other Indonesian educators, we felt that the idea of educational decentralization, where the main argument for decentralization was that it brings the governments closer to the people with a promise to serve the public more efficiently and effectively, seemed appropriate to the realities of our situation. Our initial response to the new laws was one of excitement. As educators, we were interested in the changes that were proposed. In particular, we were interested in the shift of power from central government to district level jurisdictions, bypassing the province level. Yet, we strove to understand: what was actually proposed? What was the rationale? What were the envisaged implications for districts? To what extent were districts and schools clear about the reform and their implications? These and many more questions were asked by educators, including ourselves. Our questions represented the considerable interest of educators in Indonesia to help a country that was badly impacted by the Asian financial crisis before the Reform era. In relevance to the reform the educational decentralization seemed to offer certain promises and possibilities for educators, including that of improving educational quality.Fast forw...

Estimating the Effect of Principal Instructional and Distributed Leadership on Professional Development of Teachers in Jakarta, Indonesia

“…There is little empirical research on school development in Indonesia as compared to other Asian countries. Despite the plethora of studies over time on leadership practices elsewhere (Sumintono et al, 2019), more studies are highly needed on educational leadership and teacher development in Indonesia (Lumban Gaol, 2021; Pereira, 2016). A study by Dania and Andriani (2021) reported the challenges faced by school principals in public elementary schools in Indonesia.…”

Quality Profile of Remote Areas Elementary Schools

“…Recruitment, pre-service professional development, selection, placement, additional study, evaluation, and succession planning are just some of the many policies and programmes that LaPointe et al (2006) say should accompany efforts to increase the professionalism of principals' leadership. Districts should make a concerted effort to shift the focus of principal leadership from Piter Joko Nugroho, Theo Jhoni Hartanto / Quality Profile of Remote Areas Elementary Schools merely focusing on school management to including cultivating instructional leadership (Sumintono et al, 2019). (Lee & Hallinger, 2012).…”

Quality Mapping of Remote Elementary School-Based on e-EDS

“…Enforcement of this policy is one of the strongest levers available to districts to improve the leadership quality of principals over time (Leithwood et al, 2019). In the context of supporting the development of principals' leadership, there must be a willingness from the district to change directions, in this case, the leadership of principals in schools in Indonesia does not only emphasize school management (Sumintono et al, 2019) but must be directed at leadership and leadership. instructional development (Lee & Hallinger, 2012).…”

“…In the end, the effort to make changes returned to the education authorities in Kapuas and North Barito Regencies, Central Kalimantan Province, and other regions in Indonesia. To achieve the goal of improving the quality of schools (including in remote areas), as a developing country Indonesia through its district education leaders needs to borrow policies, followed by policy learning as stated (Lingard, 2010), adjusting to the context of schools in Indonesia (Sumintono et al, 2019). Policy lending needs to be pursued by translating or adapting it locally in the context of schools in Indonesia (Steiner-Khamsi, 2016).…”

“…Policy lending needs to be pursued by translating or adapting it locally in the context of schools in Indonesia (Steiner-Khamsi, 2016). Although the idea of policy lending is opposed by Harris & Jones (in Sumintono et al, 2019) who argue that policy lending is not always successful, contextualized policy lessons can be learned. Therefore, taking into account the policies and good practices of various countries that have succeeded in overcoming the problems of remote areas education can be a lesson for Indonesia in reforming remote areas education management practices in the future.…”