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*)Penulis: Tutus Pambudi. Pemerhati edukasi & praktisi komunitas. Sehari-harinya mengabdi sebagai artis grafis.
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The third world countries is facing a learning crisis. While countries have significantly increased access to education, being in school isn’t the same thing as learning. Worldwide, hundreds of millions of children reach young adulthood without even the most basic skills like calculating the correct change from a transaction, reading a doctor’s instructions, or understanding a bus schedule—let alone building a fulfilling career or educating their children.
Education is the center of building human capital. The latest World Bank research shows that the productivity of 56 percent of the world’s children will be less than half of what it could be if they enjoyed complete education and full health.
Delivered well, education—along with the human capital it generates—benefits individuals and societies. For individuals, education raises self-esteem and furthers opportunities for employment and earnings. And for a country, it helps strengthen institutions within societies, drives long-term economic growth, reduces poverty, and spurs innovation.
A Global Learning Crisis
One big reason the learning crisis persists is that many education systems across the developing world have little information on who is learning and who is not. As a result, it is hard for them to do anything about it.
And with uncertainty about the kinds of skills the jobs of the future will require, schools and teachers must prepare students with more than basic reading and writing skills. Students need to be able to interpret information, form opinions, be creative, communicate well, collaborate, and be resilient.
An Indonesian Learning Crisis
According to the Political And Economic Risk Consultant Survey (PERC), the quality of education in Indonesia ranks 12th out of 12 countries in Asia. Indonesia’s position is below Vietnam. Data reported by The World Economic Forum Sweden (2000), Indonesia has low competitiveness, which ranks only 37th out of 57 countries surveyed in the world.
The causes of the low quality of education in Indonesia include problems of effectiveness, efficiency, and standardization of teaching, in addition to the lack of creativity of educators in guiding students, curriculum that makes education be on the skids. The curriculum is only based on government knowledge without regard to community needs.
Lecturers only force the children to be master of all materials that has been curated. They never considering whether the material is in accordance with children potential or not. Finally students not develop based on their potential but as if due to compulsion.
It must be acknowledged that the majority of our students have absolutely not have purposes of what they will become, although some of them have it but it’s still not clear. So, what happens is that they learn to float and have no clear direction that is important to go to school. One important thing is our educators do not direct the children to realize their ideals, but how students can memorize all the subject matter without exception.
Change Starts with A Great Teacher
A growing body of evidence suggests the learning crisis is, at its core, a teaching crisis. For students to learn, they need good teachers, but many education systems pay little attention to what teachers know, what they do in the classroom, and in some cases whether they even show up.
Fortunately for many students, in every country, there are dedicated and enthusiastic teachers who, despite all challenges, enrich and transform their lives. They are heroes who defy the odds and make learning happen with passion, creativity, and determination.
One such hero works in the Ecoles Oued Eddahab School in Kenitra, Morocco. In a colorful classroom that she painted herself, she uses creative tools to make sure that every child learns, participates, and has fun. In her class, each letter in the alphabet is associated with the sound of an animal and a hand movement. During class she says a word, spells it out loud using the sounds and the movement, and students then write the word down. She can easily identify students who are struggling with the material and adjust the pace of the lesson to help them get on track. Children are engaged and attentive. They participate and are not afraid to make mistakes. This is a teacher who wants to make sure that all children learn.
But even heroes need help. We need to be sure that all teachers are motivated to do their best and that they are equipped with what they need to teach effectively.
Technology Offers New Possibilities for Teaching and Learning
Rapid technological change is raising the stakes. Technology is already playing a crucial role in providing support to teachers, students, and the learning process more broadly. It can help teachers better manage the classroom and offer different challenges to different students. And technology can allow principals, parents, and students to interact seamlessly. Millions of students are benefiting from the effective use of technology, but millions more in the developing world are not.
We know learning happens best when instruction is personalized to meet the needs and strengths of each child, individual progress is tracked, and prompt feedback provided. Adaptive technology was used to evaluate students initial learning level to then walk them through math exercises in a dynamic, personalized way; based on artificial intelligence and what the student is ready to learn. After three months, students with the lowest initial performance achieved substantial improvements. This shows the potential of technology to increase learning outcomes, especially among students lagging behind their peers.
In a field that is developing at dizzying speeds, innovative solutions to educational challenges are springing up everywhere. Our challenge is to make technology a driver of equity and inclusion and not a source of greater inequality of opportunity. We are working with partners worldwide to support the effective and appropriate use of educational technologies to strengthen learning.
When Schools and Educations Systems are Managed Well, Learning Happens
Providing quality education requires building systems that deliver learning, day after day, in thousands of schools, to millions of students. Successful education reforms require good policy design, strong political commitment, and effective implementation capacity. Of course, this is extremely challenging. Many countries struggle to make efficient use of resources and very often increased education spending does not translate into more learning and improved human capital. Overcoming such challenges involves working at all levels of the system.
At the central level, ministries of education need to attract the best experts to design and implement evidence-based and country-specific programs. District or regional offices need the capacity and the tools to monitor learning and support schools. At the school level, principals need to be trained and prepared to manage and lead schools; from planning the use of resources to supervising and nurturing their teachers.
Education Reform: The Long Game is Worth It
By their nature, the payoffs from investing in education require patience and persistence. In fact, it will take a generation to realize the full benefits of high-quality teachers, the effective use of technology, improved management of education systems, and engaged and prepared learners. However, global experience shows us that countries that have rapidly accelerated development and prosperity all share the common characteristic of taking education seriously and investing appropriately.
The schools of the future are being built today. These are schools where all teachers have the right competencies and motivation; where technology empowers them to deliver quality learning and where all students learn fundamental skills, including socio-emotional, and digital skills. These schools are safe and affordable to everyone and are places where children and young people learn with joy, rigor, and purpose.
Governments, teachers, parents, and the international community must do their homework to realize the promise of education for all students, in every village, in every city, and in every country.