In Indonesia, there is currently a deep interest in the “Sekolah Berstandar Internasional” or SBI concept. “Sekolah Berstandar Internasional” can be translated as “School of International Standard”. The idea of the SBI is being pushed by the Indonesian education ministry, DINAS, in an effort to upgrade the quality of Indonesia’s schools. It realizes the importance of Indonesia not falling behind internationally because of the poor quality of education offered in its schools.

DINAS itself is conscious of the rising popularity of schools in Indonesia that exist so that students can take international examinations like the IGCSE and the IB. However, it is concerned that such schools may orient Indonesians to look out of Indonesia and this may have an effect on its national development goals. Furthermore, it can be argued that such schools tend to cater to an elite minority belonging to the upper middle class and middle class. Such schools tend to be beyond the means of the average Indonesian who sent their children to the government schools. It is perhaps to cater to this lower income group, and to allay fears of the creation of an elite group of Indonesians with one foot out of Indonesia,  that DINAS has proposed the creation of SBIs. In official DINAS documents, the SBIs are supposed to be staffed by local teachers with a local curriculum that emphasized quality  teaching and learning that is on par with the rest of the world yet rooted in Indonesia.

However, private schools in Indonesia have been looking elsewhere for their model. In this search many schools have looked at the Singapore model as the example to be copied. Singapore-style schools have sprouted up with the typical Singapore emphasis on high stakes written examinations. “Educational consultants” from Singapore have pushed for a transplanting of the Singapore school system upon Indonesia without a thought or understanding of the real needs of Indonesia because little thinking is required by such an approach. There is also an almost arrogant assumption by some of these educational consultants that what works in Singapore, will work just as well with minor only minor tweaking.

As an example, Singapore school textbooks which are in English, are being used for lessons in such Singapore-style schools in Indonesia, never mind if the level of English language competency is not at the same level as Singapore. Not quite a few of these educational consultants have of course ingeniously argued that Indonesian students need to learn English like Singapore students because English is needed to be on par with the rest of the world.

Some even argue that Indonesian students need English to enroll in foreign educational institutions, which is far from true. They, of course, notably forget to mention that countries like Japan, Germany have done well enough without English at the earlier stages of school. Not too mention also that in Singapore you do have the environment that you need to learn English unlike in Indonesia where it is hard to come by, even through TV!

In addition, if the goal of DINAS is to produce good quality education, written examinations do not guarantee this. Singapore-style high stakes written examinations only turn schools into examination preparation centers, which are what Singapore schools really are in general. Students can still do well in such examinations even without deep understanding of the subject matter because much of such examinations require only rote-learning of facts and mechanical operations.

Indonesians would also do well to remember that even in Singapore there is already an acknowledgment to move away from this “examination-centeredness” in its schools. Yet, Indonesians are being peddled with the same outmoded Singapore approach. If Indonesians keep following these outdated approaches to education, they will always be playing catch up when they have every opportunity to jump to a higher level and a better approach to education more suited to the needs of their country.

David Perkins’ concept of the Smart School if implemented has the potential to make meaningful learning truly happen. I have been advocating in this series of postings that the Smart School concept ought to be explored, especially for countries like Indonesia which has a growing privately-owned educational sector. The national educational authorities, DINAS, have largely left these schools to explore and take their own routes. This means that privately-owned schools have a great opportunity to go into uncharted waters. Even the National Schools and the so-called National Plus schools should strive to move into these uncharted waters.

Perkins’ ideas are actually important beacons for the more adventurous schools to follow. They provide principles upon which schools can use to prepare themselves to enter a brave new world.Like all trips into uncharted waters, a keen awareness of what is happening throughout the journey will help make the journey successful. This awareness is stressed in Perkins’ model of the smart school. Schools must make ready to sail with these beacons as their guiding lights.

Conversely, while uncharted waters may seem dangerous, to remain in home waters is to stick to the old, high stakes examination systems that many of these schools have been adopting. The only difference is that the examinations are now from international examination syndicates. It is just a case of old wine (or should it be rum?) in new bottles as the fundamental approach to teaching is still the traditional teaching to the examinations manner which involves a lot of rote learning and learning of mechanical routines where learning is at best superficial.

Employers all over the world have been complaining that the products of such a system do not meet the requirements of the workplace anymore where the complexity of the work environment demands people who are adapt with complexity. The fact is the whole society needs such people. Students who do deep and insightful thinking must deal with adapt at dealing with complex situations. Standard trivial pursuit questions common in high stakes examinations will not do simply because they do not challenge, excite or cause any real re-wiring of the mind of the students, or even the teachers for that matter.

It is this need to be comfortable and adapt with complexity that the Smart School also tries to address. The school is also built on the principle that students in such schools should embrace complexity. Students ought to be constantly facing complex situations and problems. Students must acquire the skills and persistence to persevere in such situations because after all in the real world, standard answers and solutions don’t work whether at the workplace or the home. Instead of giving up in the face of complexities, students in the smart school will be excited by the challenges presented by the complexities they face. They will acquire skills to deal with complexity.

Teachers too would be challenged to present a meaningful curriculum which they know is realistic and reflects the world in which their students live in.  This alone, I believe, will take so much of the drudgery out of the lives of teachers. The management of such a school will also support these teachers in being more ambitious in setting the educational goals of their charges. The learning becomes real and real learning becomes the culture of the school.

The Smart School becomes wedded to learning. The smart school, according to Perkins, must also be a learning organization where not only the students are actively learning but the management and teachers. Teachers are encouraged in pursuing their intellectual interests. This will mean that school management will be willing to allow teachers to try new ideas in the classrooms. Teachers will also show greater professional collaboration not only within the school but also with other teachers elsewhere. The school management must show that they are serious about making the school a learning organization by instituting structures that allow for collaboration and free flow of information. It demands a greater transparency so that all members of the school is more actively and personally  involved in setting directions for the school and the monitoring of the school’s performance. This becomes essential if the school seeks to be always relevant to the changing demands and goals of the larger community outside the school.

Indeed to produce a new breed of people with an ability to think deeply should become a national concern. For Indonesia, the country’s experiment in democracy requires that it produces people who are deep thinkers and not just examinations smart. Democratic institutions cannot be built upon schools that teach people to be spoon fed. Schools and teachers must realize that if they want everyone else to take them seriously, then they must be seen to be serious about the responsibility that their role calls for. While in the past the “Three Rs” were the goals, education today, which we must not forget is for tomorrow, calls for a different set of goals on top of the traditional ones. Schools cannot be bastions of the past. Schools cannot only undergo cosmetic changes. The changes must be real and fundamental and they must also excite everyone involve in it. The new world beckons the brave.