Indonesias education system sorely lacking leadership

BY
MUHAMMAD ZULFIKAR RAKHMAT AND ZAINUL YASNI ADZARNA, GUEST CONTRIBUTORS
18 MAY 2016 POSTED IN: INDONESIA

Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat and Zainul Yasni Adzarna illustrate how a failure to focus
on leadership in Indonesia promotes deep flaws within its education system.

Debates concerning Indonesias education system often revolve around curriculum, budget,
teachers and students. However, discussions seldom touch on the one individual crucial to
advancing the education system; the school principal (often referred to as Kepala Sekolah).

Leaders play a significant role in the success or failure of an educational institution. Numerous
theories on leadership state that a change in president, CEO, head of department, or the school
principal triggers a transformation in the expectations of those they lead.

In Indonesia, the relatively poor condition and slow rate of change in the education system could
be caused by the lack of attention paid to leadership. This is evident in a number of ways.

Of the countrys numerous higher education institutions, not one university offers an educational
leadership program, instead favouring majors in educational management and administration.
This highlights that Indonesia remains less concerned with strong leadership competencies in the
educational system.

Moreover, in many prominent journals on educational leadership, very few discuss school
leadership in Indonesia. Even then, these studies are often conducted by experts from overseas;
compared with neighbouring countries in Asia, education experts in Indonesia have failed to
consider educational leadership as important.

Perhaps this situation is caused by the belief that Indonesia does not really need such leadership,
or the fact that the importance of educational leadership is often overlooked.

Image source: flickr

In fact, the competency standards required of a head of school under the Ministry of Education
list five dimensions personality, management, entrepreneurship, supervision, and social. None
place specific emphasis on leadership. Even though they seem the same, leadership and
management are strikingly different.

The former is concerned with vision, motivation, inspiration and innovation, and concentrates on
human resources to create change and improvement. Meanwhile, management addresses
planning and administration, and focuses on the system and structure to achieve a goal. In simple
terms, a manager accepts the status quo, while leaders challenge it. In other words, both do the
right thing, having roles that are equally important, but complementary.

Recently, more and more studies reveal the strong linkage between the success of an educational
institution and its leader. While some studies find that the school principal does not directly
influence student achievement, many conclude that the school leader has a strong influence on
creating an educational environment that is supportive, conducive and convenient for both
students and teachers.

Unfortunately, the majority of school principals in Indonesia view their roles and functions
as limited to a management and administration level. Government training and education is
provided to aspiring school principals, but focuses overwhelmingly on managerial aspects. In
reality, leadership values should be the main priority to drive effective reform in the education
system.

Meanwhile in the global context, as demonstrated in data gathered by the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in several developed countries, of the five
functional aspects of a school leader, four emphasise leadership and only one touches on the
managerial domain. This highlights that leadership in the world of education is a top priority in
running an educational organisation, thus contradicting the situation in Indonesia.

It is clear that steps must be taken to meet the needs of educational leadership in Indonesia. The
government needs to re-formulate the national competency standards of school principals in
favour of leadership aspects. Moreover, there is a need to place more emphasis on enhancing
leadership competence in the education and training of prospective principals.

Meanwhile, those who have become school principals should be encouraged to carry on pursuing
Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to hone and improve their leadership
competencies. Furthermore, universities and higher institutions should begin to open educational
leadership programs to prepare those who will work in the countrys education system. Last but
not least, the government, alongside educational institutions, must facilitate researchers and
academics to conduct research in the field of educational leadership.

Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat is a PhD scholar at the University of Manchester.

Zainul Yasni Adzarna is a postgraduate student in Educational Leadership at Queens
University Belfast.