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Her philosophy -
a. About school
b. On stimulating change in others
- Informal "chatting" (socialization) with colleagues, never formal meetings/ presentations
Through patient explanations of the reasons for the innovations so that gradually they come to understand her motives and to appreciate her motivation for change
- By providing concrete evidence that the innovations are achieving results
By using simple ways of explaining the changes, that is introducing the new paradigm through simple but relevant and easily understood metaphors
- By building on what teachers are doing at present
- Study visits by schools
Through KKG Mini, KKG Gugus, within and between school clusters, within and between kecamatan, and within the district of Probolinggo
Implementation of the examples provided (start up) hopefully leads to development of a teacher's own ideas
Changes observed in Ibu Wiwik's school - SDN Maronwetan 1
The early grades have a carpeted reading corner so that children can read books once they have completed an organized learning activity.
In all classes, there are displays of children's neat and innovative work on the walls, one named spaced per pupil. Often work is displayed by the children themselves (not the teacher).
Teaching aids developed/ made by teachers themselves are also on display on a table, such as word cards in the early grades.
Several parents help in early classes (class 1 and 2). These parents work with the class where their own child is. As the child moves up into the next class, so do the parents, to be replaced by 1-2 new parents.
Since parents have been helping in class 1, children are learning to read and write much faster. Some children (probably TK ones) are able to write simple sentences in their own words after only 6 weeks in class 1.
Children are able to express their opinions in their own words in discussions as well as in their writing.
Teachers have arranged their classrooms to facilitate pupil interaction, either with seating in a U shape or in groups.
School committee actively assists with both teaching learning and with the physical aspects of the school.
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3.4 Changes Observed
At the classroom level
Before the introduction of active teaching learning methods through CLCC and MBE programs, pupils were seated in rows and were passive recipients of knowledge provided by the teacher sometimes from a government issued textbook, when these were available. Classroom walls were bare except for administrative notices. Children bored. Now, in those schools which implement more active teaching methods, the children are brighter, active, involved and happier. They sit in groups or other non-traditional seating arrangements where they can talk to each other even when the lesson does not involve discussion or cooperation between pupils. They have more freedom in the classroom, teaching is more child oriented and humanistic and children like what their enlightened teachers provide.
The observed changes in classrooms have to be balanced with pupils performances on examinations, particularly children in class 6 when they take the UAS end of primary cycle tests. The results from MBE's own tests (administered in May 2004 ) showed that pupils in grade 1 in the 6 schools sampled in Probolinggo scored higher on their reading tests than did pupils in grade 4 on their reading and writing test. Children in class 4 were more able to write in their own words based on the picture stimulus than they were able to understand the story provided. However, further analysis of those writing scripts showed that children still needed a lot more support and practice in this area. Also the less able pupils needed some strong remedial work in basics such as handwriting, spelling and ordering their thoughts. [This is an area where MBE could give assistance].
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At the school level
Transparency was being achieved as a result of displaying the RAPBS openly in a prominent position in the school. This in turn, is leading to greater financial responsibility by communities.
Some constraints remained however, and included:
- Certain sections of the community feel that education is the government's responsibility
According to one Dinas official, 1/3rd of school committee still want to get something from school/ school committee programs. For instance, some school committee still want to get fees for transport, or commission from a school rehabilitation project. However, others already use their own initiative, are responsible and understand that a good school benefits them.
- The socio-economic situation of communities is relatively low.
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At district level
The formula funding for schools (dana alokasi sekolah, DAS) team have produced their funding formula for financial year 2005 as a result of the training workshop. The DAS formula used the following 4 variables: total pupils, implements SBM, total number of teaching groups (rombel), and location of the school - if it is in a difficult area or not (daerah sulit), each with a weighting of 40%.
Constraints identified at this level included:
Progress at SMP level.
Although these schools hear about the PAKEM teaching methodology, they wait for Dinas input. They are less confident to use their own initiative, unlike primary schools. Two important factors here are, first, primary schools have received a lot of input and seen a lot of models which they can strive to emulate (U-U, SEQIP, MBE) whereas SLTP have had much less opportunities to see alternative teaching learning methods. Furthermore, primary schools can afford to be experimental in their approaches during their longish 6 year cycle; only at the end of class 6 is there a district wide end of cycle examinations. SLTP on the other hand, only have 3 years and the national UAN examinations remain in the 3 key subjects of B Indonesia, maths and English.
MBE facilitators - a potential difficulty.
Of the 12 MBE-supported facilitators in the district, six from SD, 6 from SLTP and 2 from Dinas - only one is from a MBE sub-district. This makes working in that area rather difficult at times. These 12 were selected on a competitive basis from a short-list of 27 hopefuls. Selection followed the MBE procedure of testing and interview. One Dinas facilitator tends to be rather bureaucratic/ more pragmatic.
21 See MBE report "Assessing the Impact of the Program on Student Performance", June 2004
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