Improving the quality of human capital: the INOVASI approach

Abstraksi

The Government of Indonesia faces two key issues in relation to improving the quality of human resources –persistent and critically low student performance on measures of learning achievement, and the urgent need to develop a skilled and competent workforce in order to increase productivity and become more competitive within the region and globally. These two issues are related. Together they form the top priority in the draft National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) for 2020-2014, in the human development sector/education chapter. Student learning outcomes are also emerging as a key priority of the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Education (Renstra). Basic competencies in literacy and numeracy are the building blocks for a skilled workforce. These competencies are the foundation for higher-order thinking skills such as critical thinking and problem solving; they are the foundation for 21st century skills - which are the abilities and learning dispositions that have been identified globally by educators, business leaders, academics, and governments as being required for success in 21st century society and workplaces. They include the ‘soft skills’ such as discipline, creativity, self-management, and teamwork. Simply put, there is very little chance of creating a highly skilled and relevant workforce for the future, if today’s students do not acquire minimum competence in literacy and mathematics. Investments in technical and vocational training are unlikely to be fruitful if the young people entering training are not functionally literate and numerate. In the past two decades, Indonesia has made substantial gains in basic education. Government spending has doubled and enrolment in primary education is close to 100 per cent. But while the policy has improved educational access, it has yet to produce better learning outcomes . Classroom practice has not changed much in village schools since the 1950s; and results on international tests such as PISA have flat-lined over the last decade. How to lift standards of literacy and numeracy as a foundation for building human capital? This is the challenge for Indonesian education. The AUD $49 million, Innovation for Indonesia’s School Children (INOVASI) program began in 2016. Through INOVASI, the Governments of Australia and Indonesia are working together to find out how to improve student learning outcomes in diverse schools and districts across Indonesia. INOVASI aims to build a body of evidence; to find out what works (and what doesn’t) to improve literacy and numeracy in Indonesian classrooms, schools and districts – and for this evidence to inform policy and practice. It does this by co-designing and piloting solutions to the challenge of improving learning outcomes in local contexts. Working with Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC), INOVASI has formed partnerships with 17 districts, in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB); Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT); North Kalimantan; and East Java. Currently, a total of 47 pilots and partnerships are underway in these districts. The Program is also partnering with the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) and non-government organizations, including Muhammadiyah and Ma’arif NU. The pilot activities are seeking to find locally-driven solutions to local challenges in learning, including in foundational literacy and numeracy, language transition from mother tongue to Bahasa Indonesian, multigrade, educational leadership, community engagement, and support to children with disabilities. Emerging evidence from the pilots suggests steps that government can take to improve literacy, numeracy and foundational 21st Century skills in primary schools. Literacy: Our work has identified four major obstacles to improving learning outcomes in literacy: (1) teachers do not have the professional knowledge and skills to teach reading in the early grades; (2) the curriculum does not adequately cover the teaching of reading in early grades – it is assumed that children can read when they enter grade one; (3) children lack access to engaging and age-appropriate reading books; and (4) most children entering school – especially in remote areas – lack fluency in Bahasa Indonesia, the language of instruction. INOVASI is piloting an approach to continuing professional development of teachers in school clusters. Short courses are delivered in teacher working groups over a semester in brief sessions, interspersed with practical tasks for teachers to undertake in their classrooms. The approach aligns with MoEC and MoRA continuing professional development pilots. In 2017 we surveyed 4,772 students in three provinces and found that 85 per cent, 94 per cent and 91 per cent in North Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara, respectively ‘love to read’. Children are highly motivated to read but are unable to do so due to the lack of attractive, age-appropriate books in schools and villages. Numeracy: Our work suggests that the teaching of mathematics in Indonesian schools is too fast-paced, too abstract and too narrowly focused on memorizing basic computation and algebra in early grades. As a result, children and teachers alike are confused about mathematical concepts in middle primary classes – and children undertaking PISA tests in junior-secondary school are unable to apply mathematical concepts to real-world problems or to solve relatively simple problems and challenges. INOVASI is piloting new approaches to teaching numeracy in early grades. The focus is on building a concrete understanding of number and skills in problem-solving using real-world examples and challenges. INOVASI is also piloting new approaches with MoEC and local districts to enable teachers to identify children with disabilities, including learning disabilities, and to manage the learning programs for these children in the classroom. The aim is for all children to be included in basic education, for no child to be left behind.