“The Politics of Educational Decentralisation in Indonesia: A Quest for Legitimacy is a well written, analytically sharp, and compelling study of educational decentralisation in Indonesia. Irsyad Zamjani, provides fresh insights into this important topic. The author treats educational reform as a window into much deeper questions about power, the government’s responsibility to its citizens, and social change in Indonesia. His findings should interest academics as well as practitioners with an interest in educational reform.” —Professor Christopher Bjork, Vassar College, New York “This is a remarkable book which should appeal not only to Indonesian scholars, but also to educationists and political scientists, to name just a few. By tracing the path of decentralisation in the Indonesian educational reform in the early 2000s, Zamjani shows how the central and municipal governments struggled in different ways to retain control over education in their domains through various mechanisms largely related to claims of legitimacy. The study is grounded in new institutional theory, and the interview and case study data provide a richness and depth in showing the dynamics of reform attempts.” —Professor Lawrence J. Saha, Australian National University, Canberra This book discusses the dynamics of educational decentralisation in post-reform Indonesia. Taking sociology’s new institutionalism approach, and drawing upon data from documents and interviews with strategic informants, the book investigates how institutional legitimacy of educational decentralisation was garnered, manipulated, and then contested. Besides analysing global institutional pressures which influenced the national adoption of decentralisation reform, and the central government’s attempts to restore its legitimacy, the book also offers comparative case studies of education governance in two local districts to highlight how this reform is responded to at the local level.

In Indonesia, as elsewhere in Asia, education will inevitably play a key role in the national development experience as the twenty-first century unfolds. Not much international attention is paid to how the education sector is faring in Indonesia, but that is not because nothing is happening. The past decade has seen major changes in the structure of the education system and in the schooling trajectories of Indonesian children and adolescents. The administration of primary and secondary education has been decentralized to the regions. A new paradigm of school-based management has been introduced. Public spending on education has finally reached one-fifth of total government spending, as required by law. But although enrolment rates at all levels continue to increase, the quality of education remains low and has not improved, and the tertiary sector continues to experience problems of autonomy and unsatisfactory performance.

This book offers a critical analysis on Indonesian education by drawing from various critical perspectives and theoretical frameworks to explore persistent challenges and social inequality problems in the education sector. Critical perspectives are important to reveal how education is not a neutral, mechanistic process of cultivating the knowledge and skills of future generation. Instead, it is a battleground in which competing visions, ideologies, discourses, religious values, and political interests struggle for dominance in a given society. In each of the sections, contributors draw upon specific case studies and employ critical theories to analyze power relations or to identify and destabilize underlying structures, dominant discourses, hegemonic knowledge, policies, or practices. Some authors also highlight data evidencing inequities, inequalities, or injustices in Indonesian education system. As a handbook, the emphasis on critical perspectives is useful to identify and evaluate the ‘blind spots’ of dominant policy discourses and their pedagogical consequences. The plurality of critical approaches also means that this book is necessarily multidisciplinary. A unique feature of this book is the fact that most authors are Indonesian academics who bring with them tacit knowledge of practices and issues. Overall, this book enriches the literature by bringing together different disciplinary perspectives such as political science, psychology, international relations, economics, and linguistics to critically examine important issues related to education in Indonesia.

The need to find solutions to the grave economic and political problems faced by Indonesia presents a constant challenge. In this volume, scholars in a variety of fields study a broad spectrum of the problems of this new nation. Their overall focus centers on Indonesia's land and population with emphasis on the most efficient means of developing physical and human resources.

This report explores the association between school innovation and different measures related to educational objectives.

There is a dynamic and growing energy in Indonesia focusing on parenting education, particularly for low-SES families. However, little is known about parenting styles and related outcomes, much less the coverage and effectiveness of various parenting education approaches. In 2013, the Government of Indonesia commissioned the World Bank to review existing programs and make recommendations to strengthen its parenting education system. This report synthesizes international research while providing detailed information on the seven agencies currently providing parenting education programs in Indonesia, collected from interviews, reports, and data presentations in 2013 and early 2014. Four government ministries and three non-governmental organizations currently offer programming: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Social Affairs, Family Planning Board, Plan, Save the Children, and World Vision. The report notes the commonalities in current program structures and approaches, then articulates recommendations to create a more cohesive and effective system with adequate coverage. In terms of content, authors recommend that providers choose a narrow and meaningful set of messages for respective programs, and enhance content for particularly vulnerable families, such as those with children with disabilities or dealing with chronic illness, natural disaster, conflict, and so forth. To strengthen program design and delivery, eight recommendations emerge, such as articulating measurable goals, ensuring active learning, encourage in-session practice, improving training and compensation for facilitators, and increasing the use of technology. The report includes a matrix of short-term (1-2 years) and medium-term (3-5 years) steps to build a coordinated system of parenting education that involves four areas of action: (1) create the framework; (2) develop an enabling environment; (3) conduct the research; and (4) implement and refine programming. Steps are both simultaneous and sequential and should lead to increased coverage and quality of programs within 5 years.

Nowadays, the concept of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) is starting to replace the concept of MDGs (Millennium Developmental Goals). It is a global goal adopted by all United Nations member states. It emphasizes the idea that the development of every country can only be achieved by balancing other factors such as social, economic, and environmental sustainability. It is already clear how sustainable development works with environmental ethics and management. However, there are still issues regarding the sustainable development and human well-being. Sustainable development should focus on finding a way for society to meet their present needs for the long term without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This international seminar provides research results and literature regarding the topic of sustainable development concept, the dynamics of sustainable development and social change, and environmental sustainability. The international seminar, entitled 1st International Conference on Contemporary Sociology and Educational Transformation, listed speakers from several countries providing an overview on human and environmental resilience. This book contains a selection of papers presented at the conference.

This report provides guidance on how Indonesia can consolidate gains in access to basic education and develop an education system that will support an economy in transition towards high-income status.