Rethinking our mathematics, science teaching

By Hendra Gunawan

SYDNEY (JP): Many among us would probably share Mochtar Buchori's view on our education system, in connection with Indonesia's poor result in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, that was published in this newspaper (Dec. 8, 2000).

Then, among 38 participating countries, Indonesia ranked 34th and 32nd in mathematics and science respectively, far below Singapore (1st and 2nd), Malaysia (16th and 21st) and Thailand (27th and 23rd), and only a little ahead of the Philippines which was ranked 36th in both subjects.

The United States, which initiated the study, was ranked 18th and 19th in the two subjects and scored a little above average. The top five in mathematics are Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, while those in science are Taiwan, Singapore, Hungary, Japan and South Korea.

Of course we can argue about the results and its interpretation, but such findings are always useful for benchmarking. For most of us, it simply confirms the poor quality of our math and science teaching, which we have felt for a long time before the TIMSS results were published.

We should not blame our students in this case. The problem is with our education system in general; it is so complicated that problems arising from it cannot be solved by a single action.

Let's start with the curriculum. The number of subjects that our students have to learn at school is simply too many, and their content often overlaps unnecessarily.

Minister of National Education, Yahya Muhaimin, has recently pledged to place only math, basic science, and English language at the core of elementary and secondary education and to do away with other subjects.

While we support the action, which is to be implemented in the coming academic year, we would like to remind the Ministry of National Education of the many other additional problems which need to be overcome.

For instance, it's no secret that, despite a few good teachers, there are too many unqualified teachers. Now, even with a good curriculum, how can we expect quality math teaching at primary schools, say, if the teachers cannot compute 1/2 + 1/3 correctly?

As Mochtar Buchori put it, "a teacher who can teach inspiringly is one who has mastered his material." Thus, to ensure that our students are taught by teachers with a good mastery of the subject as well as appropriate teaching skills, existing teachers must be retrained.

If possible, those who have inadequate qualifications be replaced by new recruits who are better qualified. This means that existing teachers must be re-examined.

This, however, is only a short-term remedy. For a long-term solution, we must understand why most of our teachers are so poor in the mastery of their subjects. Two main explanations for this are (1) the inherent flaw in teaching education which focuses too much on teaching skills and (2) the low qualifications of students who enter teaching colleges.

Thus, starting now, teacher education must be improved. While teaching skills are important (though even they perhaps need to be improved too), the mastery of their chosen subjects should also be emphasized. Many lecturers at teacher colleges have been upgraded in the past 15 years or so, and so this should not be difficult to implement.

Meanwhile, incentives for the teaching profession should be substantially improved in order to motivate good students to go to teacher colleges and become teachers, and to also attract math and science graduates in general to the teaching profession.

Recently we heard that the allocation for education in the 2001 national budget has been increased, even though not substantially. What we would like to hear next is an improvement in incentives for teachers.

Would all these cure the situation in the future? Perhaps not. There are too many other negative factors that contribute to our poor education, factors which are primarily driven by the current values of our society.

Our country needs more mathematicians and scientists. Why? Because we now live in a world in which knowledge rules and mathematics and science provide the basics.

The writer is a visiting researcher at the School of Mathematics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, and is currently a recipient of an Australia-Indonesia Merdeka Fellowship 2000.