Dinas own Programs

• Much training has been conducted for teachers using lcoal government funds (APBD), as well as being self-financed by the schools themselves. Teachers from 6 kecamatan have participated in self-funded training.

• Teacher devlopment training (Pelatihan Petumbuhan Jabatan Guru) for grade 1-3 teachers in 2002 and in 2004 for grade 4-6 teachers, provides teachers with in-service training and support.

• Supervisory support (pendampingan) provided by facilitators to supported schools
• Revitalization of KKG meetings as part of the quality improvement strategy
• Assistance provided for pupils to study outside school.
• Dissemination of innovations through KKG and KKM meetings used schools' own funds.

• Reinforcement of specific school subjects used the Kelas Plus system. These are extra classes offered after school hours for grades 4-6. They provide extra support to pupils in those schools where teachers feel that the use of PAKEM teaching methodology may have a negative impact on NEM scores. Not all schools offer this program.

• Creative parent-class support group (Paguyuban Kelas) is a group of parents representing a particular class. Often they provide or raise funds to cover the costs of consumables for their own class.

• "SMP Sore" or afternoon SMP-level schooling is conducted on the premises of 6 primary schools to cater for school leavers from the 2-3 surrounding primary schools. This initiative is an attempt to overcome the shortage of SLTP places in less urban areas, and so contribute to achieving the 9-years basic education targets for the district. The 6 pilot areas with this program have no access to Open JSE nor to a regular SMP because of distance. These schools use regular JSE teaching materials rather than SLTPT modules or Paket B²⁰.

Strategies used

• Leadership style is important. He uses an informal style where his staff can even use ngoko Jawa (the lowest, most informal level of Jawanese language) when discussing with him. This overcomes any barriers within the established hierarchy to enable and encourage staff to discuss things more freely. He often holds informal meetings (called Landakan) at his home. He calls people to discuss education or problems in these often impromptu meetings, and people are willing to attend. He generally tries to communicate in a way that does not hurt people.

• Developing a network of like-minded people. He has some colleagues who share the same vision for education within the Dinas office, but not all do. He also has a group of supervisors, school principals and teachers with similar visions working on the ground. Some of these became MBE program Facilitators.

• Changes are made by giving concrete examples. This is either through modelling the desired change or providing evidence from other sources, such as photographs of target innovations seen during study visits to other schools. He also trust his instincts when judging the appropriateness and correctness or otherwise of a particular response to a problem. A further way is to assist people to become aware of their own needs,

• Providing evidence of success is one tactic used to overcome opposition. Another strategy he uses in the face of those who do not support innovations is to step back a little and wait for the right time to implement the change. He also tries to approach those who disagree with him. If those people continue to disagree, he continues with the innovation so that they can see what he is doing and provide them with evidence of success. Innovations are evaluated through monthly meetings.

• In disseminating ideas he first follows what people want, then he tries to understand them and make them follow what he wants.

His strategies for managing limited funds include:

• Drawing up the priorities, making people manage their own funds themselves, and finding the correct people who can manage the funds carefully, and

• Not depending too much on funds, as innovations are needed regardless of funding. Many innovations do not need funds.

• To overcome financial constraints for school development, he tries to increase community support

• When he asks for funds from relevant institutions, he will not ask for the whole budget needed. His strategy is to only ask for 75% of what is required and so show the urgency of the need.