A Glance at the Greener Grass: What Can Indonesia Learn from Spain on Overcoming Educational Crisis

Abstraksi

What does a country do when its schools and educational system generally have not produced the results the country believes they are capable of? This article outlines international studies and reports on the ways by which Spain overcame educational crisis through reforming its system. The reforms in education could also help reduce inequalities by interrupting the intergenerational transmission of income differences based on access to education and training between parents and children. Effort to strengthen early childhood education is also evident as the country focused on addressing the problems faced by immigrant children through a structural regulatory framework (e.g. child-staff ratio and staff training levels), parental and community engagement, data collection and results monitoring. At the same time, through supporting parents and promoting female employment, Spain continued focusing on early childhood education and care. Meanwhile, the country addressed the high school drop-out rates by looking at the possibilities for transfer between traditional secondary education and vocational training while still increased the attractiveness and efficiency of vocational education and training. Through analyzing the Spanish formula in addressing the educational challenges, then, what can Indonesia learn from it? And is the grass always greener on the other side? If not so, what can we either absorb or not from the Spanish formula?