Quality in teaching: Who is responsible?

Andrew Vivian, Surabaya

A recent article in this newspaper about the quality of expatriate teachers in Indonesian schools raised some important issues, and some serious concerns, about the employment of foreign teachers in Indonesia.

What we do need to understand is that we exist in a global society. For this reason, in every country, there are foreign workers who bring in their skills and knowledge.

Indonesian education is in rapid transition, from a system designed to provide a basic education for all, to one which greatly facilitates Indonesia's competitiveness in global situations. The current Kurikulum 2004 is a framework for reflecting these needs, and educational trends internationally. It was devised in consultation with experts from outside Indonesia.

For an organization to effectively manage change, a major requirement is training and development of its personnel. In education, as in a number of other areas in Indonesian society, the expertise needed may not be available in this country. Expatriate workers are hired in management and consulting positions to improve organizational structures and to train and develop their Indonesian colleagues.

There often seems to be a discrepancy between the salaries of expatriates and their Indonesian colleagues. There are two reasons for this perception.

First, to attract quality expatriates, salaries and benefits must be lucrative enough to lure them from their home countries. "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys." The fact that salaries and conditions paid to expatriate teachers and other professionals tend to be far higher than that of their Indonesian counterparts is not the fault of expatriates. Who sets the levels of pay for Indonesian citizens at rates that allow some to become unimaginably wealthy, while the vast majority struggle to make ends meet?

Second, the work of expatriates is not the same as their Indonesian colleagues. They are bringing different skills to the organization, and are paid the "market price" for them.

It is economically unwise to pay a foreign worker a high salary to do the same job as an Indonesian teacher. An experienced, qualified expatriate teacher can add value to a school by mentoring Indonesia colleagues in teaching and learning strategies, by collaboratively planning courses and units of work and by modeling good teaching.

In Indonesian private schools that employ expatriates, the owners are usually Indonesians. The expatriate teachers, presumably, carry out the wishes of their employers. If a school hires under-qualified expatriate teachers, and allows them to "lord it over" their Indonesian colleagues, then it is the responsibility of the Indonesian owners to rectify the situation.

There seems to be an anomaly by which some teachers employed in English Language schools find their way into some schools. Someone who has done a 12-week (Teaching English as a Second Language) TESOL course might be competent at teaching after- school English classes, but they are unlikely to provide regular school students with as much value as an experienced school teacher with a university degree and professional teacher training.

If there are schools that retain less-than-competent expatriate teachers, then one needs to inquire into the reasons. Perhaps the "market" (ie: Indonesian parents) prefer any expatriate to a talented Indonesian teacher? The choices in accepting such a situation are made by the school community.

It seems that private education is providing such a bewildering array of choices that many parents may not be able to keep up. The well-off (in every country) have the opinion that government education is poor, and seek something better. What "better" actually means is different for each family.

In such an environment, it is easy for businesspeople, with no background in education, to set up a school that panders to current market tastes, but, which may be educationally suspect. Thus we see schools that heavily promote a particular religion, or the education from another country, or instruction in a particular language. Parents get what they want, but, ultimately, many do not want what they get. And, what is the long-term effect on the students?

One of the wonderful things about working in an Indonesian school is to see the abilities and potential of Indonesian teachers and students. There are many, many examples of individual successes of Indonesian students and teachers, but the education system nationally is under-resourced and Indonesian teachers are under-paid.

Most schools do not have the resources, expertise or time needed to provide teachers with the skills and knowledge they need to deliver the new curriculum. However, like teachers all over the world, the good teachers will battle on and make something of it, and the not-so-good will close their classroom door and continue doing what they have always done.

A growing number of schools in Indonesia are becoming known nationally, and in the region, as good schools, because of the quality of their human resources and their programs. Currently, they are usually in wealthy neighborhoods, because they have the resources to look globally for the expertise needed to develop their Indonesian teachers with international standards of professionalism. This includes hiring quality expatriate teachers.

These schools can be a resource for other Indonesian schools, by sharing expertise and providing assistance and advice. They are a major source of talented Indonesian teachers, who have a global perspective about education. These teachers will move out into other schools and take their skills and knowledge with them. Their places will be taken by other teachers, eager to make a difference.

The writer is the principal of Ciputra High School in Surabaya.