The Politics of Educational Decentralisation in Indonesia: A Quest for Legitimacy

312 Pages·2022·4.32 MB·English

by  Irsyad Zamjani

The Politics
of Educational
Decentralisation
in Indonesia
A Quest for
Legitimacy
Irsyad Zamjani
The Politics of Educational Decentralisation
in Indonesia
Irsyad Zamjani
The Politics
of Educational
Decentralisation
in Indonesia
A Quest for Legitimacy
Irsyad Zamjani
Centre for Policy Research
Ministry of Education and Culture,
the Republic of Indonesia
Jakarta, Indonesia
ISBN 978-981-16-6900-2 ISBN 978-981-16-6901-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6901-9
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Acknowledgements
ThisbookisbasedonarevisedversionofmydissertationattheAustralian
National University. I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude
to my dissertation chair, Prof. Lawrence James Saha, for the tremendous
support throughout my academic journey at the university, especially in
completing this project. My thanks also go to Dr. Joanna Sikora, Dr.
Adrian Hayes, Prof. Christopher Bjork, Dr. I Gusti Ngurah Darmawan
and Robin Brown most sincerely for having read the whole manuscript
and providing insightful feedback. I would also like to thank the entire
facultyandcolleaguesattheANUSchoolofSociologyfordemonstrating
prolific versions of sociological imagination. Grateful thanks are also due
toallmyinformantsinIndonesiawhotookthetimetoparticipateinthis
study.
Thisbookcouldneverhavebeencompletedwithoutthesupportofthe
Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC) scholarship and
the ANU research grant. I am extremely thankful to those who had facil-
itated these essential aids, particularly Dr. Ananto Seta and his team from
MoEC and Prof. Stewart Lockie and Prof. Darren Halpin from ANU. I
amalsoindebtedtothesupportofmyintellectualmentorsintheMoEC’s
ResearchandDevelopmentAgency:Dr.TotokSuprayitno,Dr.Muktiono
Waspodo, Dr. Hendarman and the late Dr. Bambang Indriyanto.
The manuscript was finalised during my assignment as the acting
director of the MoEC’s Centre for Policy Research. Therefore, I would
also like to thank my team at the Centre who have put a lot of hard
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
work and provide backup in critical moments: Nur Berlian Venus Ali,
Lukman Solihin, Damardjati Kun Marjanto, Andry Rihardika, the late
Sugih Biantoro and other colleagues who also shared equal contribution,
but it is not possible to name everyone.
Finally,myheartfeltthanksgotomybelovedwife,IreneBudiPrastiwi,
for her affection and encouragement throughout my intellectual journey.
Ialsowanttothankmysiblings,in-lawsandtheirfamilieswhonevergive
up their care and love. This work is dedicated as the loving memory of
my parents, H. Jahdi and Hj. Rumiatun, who trusted me to embark on
a life of autonomy and self-responsibility since I was a 12-year-old boy.
Their exemplary ethics and love have been my lifetime inspiration.
Contents
1 Introduction 1
Localising the Global Problem 1
Why Does Legitimacy Matter? 5
The Role of the New Institutionalism 7
Institutional Environment 7
Decoupling 8
Structuration and Destructuration 9
Methods 10
The Logic of the Book 11
References 13
2 Institutional Change and Indonesian Education
Governance 17
Introduction 17
The Religious Construction of Education 18
Education and the Colonial State 21
The Mercantilist Era 21
The Ethical Policy 23
Education and Nation-State Building 28
The Organisational Arrangement of Education
Governance 28
Localising the Global Ideological Confrontation 34
Education and the Neoliberal Bureaucratic State 39
vii
viii CONTENTS
Conclusion 45
References 47
3 Why Legitimacy Matters: The Institutional Perspective
of Educational Decentralisation 51
Introduction 51
Decentralisation and Educational Decentralisation 53
Educational Decentralisation in Indonesian Literature 57
Assessing Theoretical Arguments on Globalisation and Its
Relevance to the Worldwide Expansion of Educational
Decentralisation 61
The Institutional Perspective of Educational Decentralisation 64
Isomorphic Pressure 66
The Duality of External and Internal Pressures 70
Decoupling 73
Organisational Fields: Structuration and Destructuration 78
Conclusion 81
References 82
4 Managing Global and Local Institutional Pressures:
Decentralisation and the Legitimacy Project
in Indonesia 91
Introduction 91
Educational Decentralisation and the Duality of Local
and Global Pressures 92
The Legitimacy Crisis: From Local to Global
Delegitimation of the Centralist Governance 92
Isomorphic Pressures: Global Institutionalisation and Its
Actors 94
The Duality of Pressure in Indonesian Educational
Decentralisation Reform 100
The Global Pressure: From Normative to Coercive 100
From the National Crisis of Legitimacy to International
Delegitimation 109
Decentralisation and the Central Government Response
to the Pressure 112
Decentralisation as a Compensatory Legitimation 112
The Task Force for Education Reform 115
Managing the Institutional Contradiction 117
Decentralisation and the Rise of Local States 117
CONTENTS ix
Local State-Based Decentralisation Versus
School-Community-Based Decentralisation 119
Managing the Contradiction 121
Conclusion 126
References 127
5 Manipulating the Institutional Legitimacy: The
Centralised Standards in the Decentralised Structure 133
Introduction 133
The Decoupling Justified 134
The Discourse of Local Incompetence 134
The Means–End Decoupling Approach 137
The 2003 National Education System Law 138
Three Standardisation Regimes 141
Standardisation and the Regulatory Governance 143
The Audit Culture 146
School Accreditation 147
Teacher Certification 148
National Examination 151
Redistributive Policy and the Return of Interventionism 153
The Standardisation Effect: Structuration
and Destructuration 160
The Structuration Effect 161
The Destructuration Effect 161
Conclusion 165
References 166
6 Educational Decentralisation and the Rise
of the Neo-Patrimonial State: The Case of Kupang City 173
Introduction 173
The Political Construction of the Neo-Patrimonial
Bureaucracy of Kupang 174
Decentralisation and the Politicisation of Local
Bureaucracy 174
The Reproduction of Patronage in Kupang’s Bureaucracy 176
The Structure of Local Education and the Policy Initiatives 179
Neo-Patrimonialism and the Politicisation of Local
Education Governance 182
The Ceremonial Professionalisation of Local Education
Authority 184
x CONTENTS
Challenging the External Pressure: The Case of School
Principal Appointments 188
The Politicisation of Formal Structure: The Case
of Student Admissions 194
Internal Resistance to the Neo-Patrimonial Education
Governance 199
Conclusion 204
References 205
7 Educational Decentralisation and the Rise of the New
Managerial State: The Case of Surabaya City 209
Introduction 209
Decentralisation, Managerialism and Education 210
The Political Construction of the Managerial State
of Surabaya 213
The Making of the New Managerial Leadership 216
From Bureau-Professional to Managerial Leadership 216
The Recruitment of School Principals as Professional
Managers 219
The Performative Culture and the Expansion of Managerial
Reforms 222
Teacher Performance Allowance 223
The Budget Restriction 225
School Rationalisation 226
The Creation of International Standard Schools 227
Responses to the Managerial Reforms 229
Contesting the Rhetoric of Social Justice Settlement 229
The Return to Bureaucracy and the Myth
of the Autonomous Manager 234
Managerialisation with(out) Privatisation 237
Conclusion 240
References 241
8 Conclusion 247
Introduction 247
Summary of the Findings 248
Some Theoretical Implications 252
The New Institutionalism and the Study of Change 252
External and Internal Legitimacy 253