Chapter 6: Responding To A Changing World: Challenges and Early Findings in Orchestrating a Principal Professional Development Program in Indonesian Schools

This chapter will provide the reader with a detailed description of the developmental journey that is taking place in Indonesia’s efforts to build an effective school leadership preparation program. Focus is placed on the results of implementing the initial stages of a new program for the recruitment and preparation of transformational instructional principals based on Indonesian Ministerial Education Regulation No. 28/2010: The Institution of Development and Empowerment of (school) Principal of Indonesia (LPPKS) (See Appendix A-1) and principal professional development. Indonesian education reform strategies were prompted by the need for a highly trained population ready to address rapid global changes in technology, communication and social networking, and the international/national economies. The initial stages of the new ministerial regulation had two components: the Principal Professional Program (PPP) for the identification and training of candidates, and the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for practicing principals. The intent was to pilot these components in a select setting and evaluate the outcome. The program design was evaluated with respect to viability across the many socially and economically diverse administrative districts in Indonesia. Once this task is completed, the findings will be applied to implementation throughout Indonesia with respect to its diverse culture, language, and geography. Collected data on trainer and participant perceptions of the program and their training experiences were used to assess the effectiveness of the piloted procedures and the relevance of the training. In the first pilot 186 aspiring principals (teachers) were recruited from five Indonesian administrative districts and participated in the training phase of the initial PPP. In a second pilot, 420 principals-in-practice from six districts participated in a training trial of the CPD. Initial findings indicated that the first training trial of the PPP program helped participants gain confidence and needed skills in preparing for school leadership roles. Similar results were found for the principals-in-practice who participated in the CPD training trial. Since the new ministerial program model is employing an iterative cycle of development and evaluation, a more definitive measure of its success will be available after participants have practiced their newly acquired knowledge in their workplace.