Greg Shaw

This chapter explores the significant role of school principals in improving education in rural Indonesia. It discusses the implementation of Regulations 28 and 13 by the Indonesian Government to enhance the selection and professional development of school principals. These regulations established a competency framework for principals to promote better educational leadership. The Basic Education Program (BEP), a joint effort between the Australian and Indonesian governments, focused on improving academic outcomes and reducing poverty through initiatives such as the Principals Preparation Program (PPP) and a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework.

Despite challenges, such as organizational changes within the Ministry of Education and the complexities associated with decentralization, the program made substantial progress. It emphasized creating competency-based training materials with a focus on available resources. The program's effectiveness was evaluated using a mixed-method research approach, which included observational data, participant feedback, and trial evaluations. The findings showed that the materials were well-received, with positive feedback on their practical application and innovative pedagogical approaches. However, there were suggestions for adjusting activity durations and simplifying language to improve comprehension and usability.

The program's future direction includes developing online CPD courses and taking advantage of the increasing internet accessibility across Indonesia. This transition aims to ensure educational leadership's sustainability and continuous improvement, especially in rural areas. The chapter emphasizes the crucial role of well-trained principals in driving educational transformation, improving learning outcomes, and contributing to broader socio-economic development and poverty reduction.

This chapter leverages nearly half a century’s worth of the author’s experience as a consultant in developing countries. It traces the pathway of becoming a consultant and, more crucially, explores how the author and others learn to be successful consultants. It delves into the challenges consultants face, which include the necessity for an intimate understanding of their work’s context. This understanding includes the cultural boundaries that demarcate the context and influence the individuals living and working within it. An autoethnographic methodology rooted in critical reflection, supplemented by relevant literature to identify key issues, is used. These issues incorporate resistance to change and inertia, manifesting at the individual, institutional, and systems levels. Such resistance often stems from people’s experiences, cultural norms, and historical practices. Further, the chapter highlights the critical need for aligning consulting activities with local needs and bolstering capacity for long-term sustainability. This capacity building is not just about immediate results but fosters enduring skill development within individuals and groups. Thus, these individuals can continue supporting the consultant’s objectives after the consultant’s tenure. At the heart of sustainability and capacity building lies the empowerment of individuals. The chapter underscores the concept of critically reflective practice as an invaluable consultancy tool. This tool benefits their interactions with others and their journey towards becoming proficient consultants.

Abstract This study originated in reaction to the 2008 introduction in Australia of a nation-wide assessment program in literacy and numeracy (NAPLAN) by the federal government. Assessment is widely regarded to play a key role in establishing and raising standards of learning but with the current political emphasis on using assessment for accountability and to monitor macro educational standards, its formative practice is less noted. Consequently, this mixed methods study was conducted at a primary school in the Northern Territory of Australia using student-directed assessment (SDA) as a learning process by drawing on formative assessment principles, constructivist learning approaches, and self-regulated learning. A simultaneous design was employed in which both qualitative and quantitative data were given equal priority. This study explored how students engage in learning when they are able to identify their own learning goals, determine their assessment criteria; and how they demonstrate their mastery of learning outcomes. This study indicated that when students in the participating year levels (years 2, 4, and 6) are involved in their own assessment and when assessment is central to learning, that deep and meaningful learning experiences occur. Through collaboration with teachers, students displayed behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement with their assessment tasks. In the case of the year-6 students, the SDA group who actively planned and took charge of their learning in the assessment process achieved significantly higher scores in their writing sample compared to their peers in the teacher directed assessment group.

Abstract: In this chapter, Shaw and Christie describe a course called Certificate in Broadcast Training, jointly developed and taught by the Northern Territory University (NTU) based in Darwin, Australia and the Asia-Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development (AIBD) ...

Abstract: Shaw and Christie expand on some issues touched upon in the preceding chapter (TD/NT 67.19) of the monograph in which this chapter appears. This chapter, like its predecessor, refers to a course'Certificate in Broadcasting'. This course aims to train ...

Literacy, particularly in rural areas, is a priority in cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and UNESCO. The search for solutions to rural education problems led to the creation of the International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED). The Centre’s mission is to boost social and economic development in rural areas through education.

It is characteristic of human endeavour to group actions together and attach identification labels to them in order to reach a shared understanding of what it is that we do. In this process we attempt to share understanding of concepts that may be quite abstract and ...