Job Discussion Forums

[RichEgerton]

Hello again,

Apparently, ANPS was formed as a body to try to bargain the government to issue a National Plus permit .... but it didn't work. Instead DIKNAs released the regulations in Jan 2009, which I was explaining about before, designed to make the Nat Plus schools comply.

If anyone is working for a school which calls itself "National Plus" and follows an international curriculum, ask to see the school permit. It'll won't be a "national plus" permit because there's no such thing. If your school denies that all of these regulations exist, it probably means they are trying to continue to ignore the laws of Indonesia in the hope that they will get away with it.

Rich

[malu]

Rich, you clearly have a poor grasp of the situation and I'd suggest that as you are in a hole you stop digging for a second and pause for breath.

1. There never was a National Plus school permit. It is true that ANPS would have liked there to be. Nat Plus schools and 'international' schools such as your own are all 'sekolah swasta'.

2. ANPS has a rigorous accreditation programme. Any school can become an associate member of ANPS but having full accreditation actually means something. Calling yourself 'international' means nothing.

3. About a year ago DIKNAS released a very vague decree that seemed to allow sekolah swasta to become 'international' schools and in so doing they would not be part of the national system and not required to offer national exams. A number of schools seized upon that opportunity - including a few who should have known better - and now DIKNAS has those same schools in its sights for a bit of good old fashioned extortion. Ada udang di balik batu, as they say here.

4. Nat Plus schools who have stayed with the ANPS model are immune from the DIKNAS extortion just mentioned because they already offer their Indonesian students the chance to sit national exams and they teach Indonesian, Agama, and civics in Bahasa Indonesia.

Examples of accredited Nat Plus schools are: Sekolah Tiara Bangsa, BINUS Simprug, Sekolah Bogor Raya, Ichthus, Tunas Muda and a good many others.

[RichEgerton]

OK mate,

You're probably right, I dunno. I'm no expert, I'm just passing on my own reading of the DIKNAS Jan 09 document (which is severely limited as I'm far from fluent in Indonesian) and the way the Indonesian management of my school has interpreted it. Interestingly, as an international school we are required to do all of the things that you mentioned national plus schools doing so as to remain "immune" from DIKNAS extortion - encouraging students to take UAN, and teaching Indonesian, Agama and Civics in Indonesian. We are doing all of those things anyway so it doesn't matter. So being an International school doesn't actually mean you don't have to offer the national exam - we still are obliged to do that although students must do it in a different school.

My understanding is that doing these things doesn't mean schools without an international school license don't have to teach the national curriculum. And while I understand the meaning of "sekolah swatsa", I have never come across it as a type of school license.

I REALLY don't know and I will pause for breath, not because I feel like I'm in a hole but because I don't really care and I fully accept I may be wrong. Out of interest, when I'm back in the office after term break I will try to find the time to get the relevant sections of the DIKNAS document, which I have, translated and I'll post them.

But hey, Indonesia is a big and confusing country, and my school may hav got it all wrong!

Happy holidays!

[RichEgerton]

Hi again Malu,

I was just thinking about some of your comments...

"Sekolah swasta" just means not "sekolah negeri", so the majority of Indonesian schools are swasta. It has nothing to do with what kind of curriculum, exams etc. you are required to offer! Of course we are all sekolah swasta!

I'm not knocking ANPS schools at all. I know some of the schools you mentioned and they are excellent. My point was that ANPS is not a government accreditation service and "National Plus" is an unofficial status rather than one recognised by DIKNAS.

I checked with my colleague, who went to the recent DIKNAS conference in Surabaya. "National Plus" schools must now get international school licenses, and many already have. I don't know about Jakarta but Sekolah Mutiara Nusantara in Bandung is an example. Otherwise they must teach national curriculum and can add content from other curricula up to a maximum of 30% of the total school periods (I heard this from Pelita Harapan).

With regards to international schools NOT being exempt from "the national system" and STILL having to offer national exams, unlike what you thought, please see article 15 point 3 in the DIKNAS document. Only schools with foreign or diplomat licenses are exempt (which would actually include some schools which call themselves "international" schools).

Anyway, going back to my original point, we call ourselves an "international" school because we are an international school. You said that according to our website, you'd "hardly call us an international school", which is confusing because you said more recently that calling oneself an "international" school means nothing. At one point you seem to be saying we're not worthy of being "international" and at another you seem to suggest that being "international" means nothing. I'm not claiming any special merit of our school for being "international". I'm just saying that we are an international school and explaining what that means.

My definition of an international school is fairly simple: a school registered as an international school which teaches from an international curriculum. Obviously, not all international schools are the same. I'm not claiming that we are on a par with JIS, BIS or many other international schools. But we, and a number of "national plus" schools, are now technically international schools according to the simple criteria that I outlined above.

[sherlock]

It is an interesting debate and at the end of the day I don't think it matters what you call yourself. I'd just like point out though Rich that on global scale, your criteria from an International school fails. In my opinion the fact that you run an international curriculum does not mean that you are an international school. Many local schools in Indonesia run IGCE and the like (meaning that they just use the text books). Does that make them international? And the fact that the government has registered you as such holds no water, we all know that the govt is doing some housekeeping by lumping all these so called schools in the one basket. In as sense you could say there has been a semantic shift in the term 'international school' in Indonesia.

But this is mostly only the case in Indonesia. In most other countries, there is less ambiguity about what an International school is. Usually, the majority of students would be foreign and there is little to no interference from the govt about curriculum. These schools are often accredited to teach an international curriculum, IB, IGCE, AP and are also accredited with relevant international school bodies - Council of International schools (CIS), Western association of international schools (WASC) etc etc. Do you have these accreditations?

From last count, there are only about 12-15 proper international schools in Indonesia (ie. schools that would be called such in other countries).

Really, lets look at the issue for what it is - status. Parents want to be seen to be sending their kids to an 'international school' so the market has provided for them in the form of these glorified local schools. For me, they are really important because they fill a void in the level of schooling here that the government cannot supply. My advice is not to get too wound up over the semantics of what is an international school and just to accept them for what they are. If they want to be called international, then so be it - really, who is being fooled?

[RichEgerton]

Dear Sherlock,
Thanks, that was very interesting. I accept that according to those criteria we are not an international school. We are a reristered CIE centre but we do not have accreditation from any of the organisations you mentioned.
Personally, I'm not comfortable with measuring the quality of a school according to whether the students ate local or from other countries. And significantly, this was one of the changes made by DIKNAS: previously there was a maximum percentage of Indonesian students that international schools could have. This is not the case any more, which now means that the "proper", long-established international schools like BIS in Bandung can enrol as many Indonesian children as they like (more competition for schools like mine).
In terms of "proper" international schools being free from government interference, it's not the case. All schools have to fulfil government regulations unless they are diplomatic schools not registered with the government.
Semantically, it is all very confusing, isn't it, Sherlock? When I suggested my school was an international school I was not trying to suggest my school is something it is not. But then what should schools like mine call themselves? In my opinion "national plus" brings its own confusion because now national schools must follow the national curriculum. We need a term to distinguish ourselves as our freedom from the national curriculum is a big plus for us.
With regards to national schools offering IGCSE, like BPK Penabur, I don't know the ins and outs of it but I'm pretty sure that these schools can only offer the said programs to a limited number of students, not to the whole school like a school registered as "international" can.
I'm sure all of this semantic confusion will sort itself out in the next couple of years as schools react to the new system of school registration from DIKNAS.

[Chancellor]

[RichEgerton]

Dear Chancellor,

Sorry I wasn't clear. The school in Banda is Penabur International, which is registered as an international school.I don't know much about it. I was referring to SMPK1 and SMAK1 on Pasir Kaliki, which are registered as local schools. They offer national curriculum to the majority of their students, but they have a 'bilingual' class for a small number of selected students who take IGCSEs.

Rich

[Chancellor]

[markustm]

I guess this topic has kind of died off, but I would like to comment about both SIS, and Stamford in Bandung.

In my own experience, the management of Stamford are very generous, and flexible people. They do expect professionalism at work, but on the other hand it is a School following an International Curriculum, and not a language mill. This may of been the main reason, so many former SIS teachers prefered to stay on at Stamford, after the split between both Schools.

SIS on the other hand are a very professional, and demanding employer. The fringe benefits are long vacations, regular training, and a reasonable mid-range expatriate salary.

As SIS follow the Singapore curriculum, the workload for teachers tends to be more than other similar schools. Apparently this is common in Singapore- so teachers are expected to be multi- tasked, and do have to work long, often exhausting hours. So its suits more rigid minded teachers, who do not mind following a singular system.

Both schools have their advantages, and disadvantages. Much depends on your own perceptions on education, and how much you are willing to work. But they can be much better employers then many other Schools in Indonesia.