Mulla Nasrudin went to see a rich man.

‘Give me some money.’

‘Why?’

‘I want to buy…an elephant.’

‘If you have no money, you can’t afford to keep an elephant.’

‘I came here’, said Nasrudin, ‘to get money, not advice.’

~ from The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin by Idries Shah

That’s a funny tale that I have found to be true at different levels in relation to my experience as a consultant to schools.

I have come across schools trying to embark on ambitious projects that were currently beyond their means. For example, schools in Indonesia are scrambling to offer IGCSE to their students. Many do so without knowing fully the implications of such a move. For starters, doing the IGCSE means that the language of instruction has to shift to the English language. Most Indonesian schools simply do not have the teachers who can offer this prerequisite. I hope Indonesians reading this will not find this to be an attempt at disparaging their abilities. I have met many great Indonesian teachers. But all too often a TOEFL score of 500 is taken as an acceptable level of English language mastery for teachers. But surely, that is inadequate for those who want to use it as a language of instruction. Surely this is a serious hurdle that has to be overcome before trying to get on board the IGCSE train? Some schools have resorted to importing teaching staff from English-speaking countries like the Philippines and Singapore. But they are a lot more costly than Indonesian teachers and I will not advocate for, among other reasons, it will take away much needed jobs for the Indonesians. This has led to the “token native-speaker” in many such schools.

I also like that tale narrated above because when the Mulla was caught out, he seems to hesitate as he knew that he didn’t have a good reason to be given money. Then he came up with an excuse that he wanted to buy an elephant! This again is like how some schools behave. They need a marketing ploy to get the students, so they quickly jump on the first thing that perhaps comes to their mind, elephant-sized projects like the IGCSE.

Sadly, his concluding statement has a lot of truth about the situation with some schools. To give an example (and at the risk of sounding as if schools must accept the advise of those they consult), schools still go ahead with the IGCSE despite being advised not to do so by their consultants. So instead of ‘I came here to get money, not advice,’ what you get is the equivalent of ‘I came here to get IGCSE from you, not advice’. Of course if they seek the advice of the salesmen, they will encourage you to buy the elephant!

Think about it. There is much to learn from Mulla Nasrudin. If you like to read more similar tales from Mulla Nasrudin, click on the elephant.

I have commented before on the approach to using ICT for education for Indonesian schools. There has always been a a laboratory-centric approach to using ICT. In addition, there is also I believe an unhealthy penchant for a software centric-approach to the use of ICT. In Indonesian schools they actually teach students software like Flash, Dreamweaver or some graphic software like CorelDraw or Adobe Photoshop. It is unclear why this is done except to provide students with a familiarity with such software.

Why? I really don’t know. They believe ICT is important but is it important for students to learn such software? It is important for students to learn to be entrepreneurs. Does it mean that schools teach students specific enterepreneur-related subjects skills? What about other possible career options? Do we teach such subjects in schools too?

The lack of clarity about why ICT is used in Indonesian schools has to be addressed as ICT use in school usually amounts to quite a significant investment by the schools and parents. The North Central Regional Educational Labotory (NCREL) , a leader in the educational uses of ICT has this to say about ICT use in education:

Technology is not transformative on its own. Evidence indicates that when used effectively, “technology applications can support higher-order thinking by engaging students in authentic, complex tasks within collaborative learning contexts” (Means, Blando, Olson, Middleton, Morocco, Remz, & Zorfass, 1993). Instead of focusing on isolated, skills-based uses of technology, schools should promote the use of various technologies for sophisticated problem-solving and information-retrieving purposes (Means & Olson, 1995).

In other words, new technology can be an appropriate vehicle for promoting meaningful, engaged learning. It allows students to work on authentic, meaningful, and challenging problems, similar to tasks performed by professionals in various disciplines; to interact with data in ways that allow student-directed learning; to build knowledge collaboratively; and to interact with professionals in the field. Technologies also can be used to promote the development of higher-order thinking skills and allow opportunities for teachers to act as facilitators or guides and often as a co-learner with the students.

~ Critical Issue: Promoting Technology Use in Schools by Jan Gahala, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory

This approach makes a lot more sense as the focus is on using ICT as a tool to teach the essential skills and knowledge for the 21st Century. It is not to teach ICT per se. What ICT is used for is to support the teaching and learning beyond only the traditional teaching and learning approaches that do not prepare students to take their place in society. This is I believe one of the prerequisites of a world class school. It doesn’t prepare students for obsolescence.

I enjoy cooking. My friends know that. I find that when I am able to transform simple ingredients into delicious and nutritious meals. For me it is amazing how simple ingredients can make something great. The same can be said about education. You do not need all the big, fanciful things to make an education system great. I believe that what you need are the people who know how to combine the small things to make that great transformation.

This idea of combining and transforming small things into something great has a lot of relevance with the concept of the sekolah berstandar internasional (SBI) in Indonesia. I think too often the attampt to raise the standards of Indonesian schools to schools of world standards has focused too much on the hardware rather than the software, or more accurately perhaps, “people ware”. It is this focus on hardware that has resulted in a concern among some Indonesian commentators that the push for SBIs is leading to two-different education systems, one for the haves and the other for the have-nots. I believe this is true only if schools are seen only as being able to become SBIs with the pre-requisite hardware in terms of modern technology and buildings.

However, if the idea of the SBI is not tied to hardware but to good teaching then ANY school in Indonesia can be an SBI, a school of world standards. In my view, a school of world standards is one where quality teaching is done and not one where only quality hardware is present. I have seen in my days as a consultant for the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore pushing the country’s MasterPlan for IT in Education (MPITE) program, teachers teach in mediocre ways in well-equipped and modern schools.

If Indonesians are clear that it is good teaching that makes a world class school, more emphasis should be put on the teachers and the people who assist in the education process. These includes the school administrators (at least at the school level). If teachers can be trained to teach in a way that takes out the tedium of the usual process that has been unjustifiably called “teaching”, and if they can be trained to to a more participatory approach to teaching and learning by all involved in the process, any school can be become great.

Money then does not become the most important pre-requisite for SBI status. Good training for teachers does. This is more accessible then money for many Indonesian schools including the National schools. You do not need hardware to get students interested. You do not need hardware to teach students to think. You do not need hardware to get students to be creative. You do not need hardware to teach students to be tough. You do not need hardware to get them to be imaginative. You do not need hardware to inspire students. You do not need hardware to produce leaders. If Indonesian school set their minds to producing such students, the schools will become SBIs. It is a natural by-product of good teaching. Best of all it can be done with ingredients already found in Indonesian schools, both rich and poor ones. Both private and National schools.

What needs to be done is to train the teachers well. If this is done properly, they will transform the Indonesian schools into institutions that provide world class education. It is just like cooking. The ingredients are the same. It is the cook that counts.