Efficient Deployment of Teachers

Abstract

This report aims to provide concrete policy options for improving identification of the demand for teachers as well as for the allocation, recruitment, and distribution of teachers in Indonesia. It captures three review areas: (1) diagnosis of the effectiveness of existing mechanisms for identifying the need for teachers and of the teacher allocation system at the central level through discussions with key stakeholders, (2) review of good practices in hiring and distributing teachers as implemented in 13 districts in 13 provinces in Indonesia, and (3) review of international experience and good practices in recruiting and deploying teachers through desk reviews of studies undertaken in several countries. This study was conducted from October 2016 to August 2017 and used both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Information and data collection involved 156 local government representatives, 127 principals, and 170 teachers (of which 154 were civil servants and 16 were not civil servants) from 127 schools. Overall, there is an oversupply of teachers. However, deploying qualified teachers to areas in need is still a challenge due to conflicts in the signals received about the needed quantity of qualified teachers. Over half of the excess teachers are non-civil service. This trend began when the government issued Law No. 43/1999 which allowed for the appointment of honorary personnel, including honorarium teachers. Law No.22/1999 and Law No. 32/2004 on the implementation of decentralization also allow local governments to appoint local government employees as needed. The issuance of PP 48 of 2005, PP 43 of 2007, and PP 56 of 2012 strengthens the existence of non-civil service teachers since the PPs regulate the transfer of non-civil service to civil service status. These regulations provided a strong legal basis for the appointment of a large non-civil service workforce. In 2010, there were six times as many non-civil service teachers as in 2001. While KemenPAN-RB attempted to verify teacher data in 2010, it put civil servant teacher recruitment on hold. Local governments expressed concerns about the lack of civil servant teacher caused by attrition (retirement, resignation, and transfer). To respond to the deficit of teachers in the field, district governments and schools resorted to hiring non-civil service teachers to fill vacancies using various selection processes and criteria, and used various available sources of funding to pay their salaries. KemenPAN-RB, with input from MoEC and BKN, should issue national guidelines to be used by local governments for the appointment of non-civil service teachers (for example, number, qualifications, required competencies, selection process and its requirements, appointment arrangement, and performance assessment). There are continued challenges in supplying adequate numbers of high-quality teachers to the underdeveloped, border, and outermost areas of Indonesia (3T) and to vocational senior secondary schools (SMKs). Although the government of Indonesia has implemented pr...

Scores, Camera, Action: Social Accountability and Teacher Incentives in Remote Areas

“…Overall, Indonesia has an adequate number of teachers: its student-teacher ratio for primary schools stood at 16:1 in 2016, one of the lowest in Southeast Asia (Kesuma et al, 2018). About 60 percent of teachers are civil servant teachers, whose hiring and salary standards are substantially higher than the rest, namely teachers under temporary contracts.…”

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“…In addition, 3T districts do not have the financial capacity to fund the numbers of teachers that they need. Some 3T districts have also rejected teachers from the SM3T and GGD programs in favor of hiring local and non-civil service teachers (Kesuma et al 2018).…”

“…To get this, existing databases on teacher management information systems must be interlinked and kept current. To avoid oversupply, teacher training institutions can set quotas for student teacher intake (Kesuma et al 2018).…”

“…The lack of data calls for establishing a structured mechanism at the central level, such as a joint team involving representatives from MoEC, KemenPAN-RB, BKN, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), and the Ministry of Finance (MoF). That team would ensure better coordination of efforts and foster regular and timely communications to comprehensively address issues related to public sector demand for teachers and their allocation, recruitment, deployment, and distribution in Indonesia (Kesuma et al 2018). In 2012, some 53,000 teachers received this allowance, a small number relative to the scale of the challenge.…”