What should educational reform in Indonesia look like? - Learning from the PISA science scores of East-Asian countries and Singapore

Nowadays, there is no country in the world without a system of formal examination and educational assessment. According to Broadfott (2007), educational assessment is a truly international phenomenon, involving international large-scale assessment. The most large-scale assessments can be found in international comparative studies such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (Biesta, 2009; Fensham, 2013). Indonesia, the country with the fourth largest population in the world, has also participated in these assessments. However, Indonesia has clearly failed to foster a culture of literacy for the people. Stated simply, Indonesian peoples do not have a “reading culture”. The quality of education based on international education assessments such as PISA and TIMSS is poor when compared with other nations, even though the education’ budget has been much improved. The results of PISA 2012 put Indonesian students in a very low position (64 of 65 countries) (OECD, 2014a).

Moreover, the World Competitiveness Scoreboard 2005 ranks Indonesia 59th of the 60 countries studied. In contrast, Malaysia was ranked 28th and India was 39th (Dharma, 2014). This can also be seen from the ranking of the Human Development Index (HDI), which less satisfactory (109 in 2000, 110 in 2002, 112 in 2003, and 108 out of 187 in 2013) even though the trend each year is positive (UNDP, 2014). Dharma (2014) also stated that the index of reading interest in Indonesia reached .001 based on statistics of UNESCO in 2012. It means that of every 1,000 people, only one person has an interest in reading. This situation can be called tragedi nol buku--“tragedy of zero books”. To sum up, Indonesia's level is extremely low based on worldwide measurements and assessments.

Specifically, Pereyra, et al (2011) stated that the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has become one of the most famous educational tools over the past decade for evaluating the quality, equity and efficiency of school systems in providing young people with thinking skills. PISA allows educators and governments to recognize effective policies that they can adapt to their local contexts. PISA assesses the extent to which young generation (15-year-old students) have acquired key knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in the world societies.

The PISA’ assessment, which focuses on mathematics, reading, science, and problem-solving, does not just confirm whether students can utilize what they have learned; it also examines how well they can explore from what they have learned and apply that knowledge in unfamiliar settings and daily life. This assessment delineates the fact that modern communities encourage individuals not for what they know, but for what they can do with what they know (OECD, 2014b). PISA results assert what is possible in education by establishing what students in the highest-performing and improving education systems can perform. The findings allow policymakers around the world to evaluate the knowledge and skills of students in their own countries in comparison with those in other countries. The results of PISA have showed dominance of countries in East Asia (Shanghai-China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan) and Singapore. Indeed, The China Post (2015) released the global math and science education ranking as follows:

...Taiwan and Japan tied for 4th place in a global math and science education ranking, administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), ...Singapore ranked best in the world, with Hong Kong placing second and South Korea third in the OECD's biggest global school rankings to date. ...The OECD examined 76 countries of varying economic status for the study, 11 more than the last PISA test it conducted in 2012...

Based on the above rationale, the dominance of the countries in East Asia and Singapore is visible terms of mathematics and science. Consequently, Indonesia could learn a lot of lessons from these countries. The focal point of this paper is what Indonesia can learn from the PISA results, particularly in science. Therefore, the questions discussed in this paper are: 1) What science content is lacking in Indonesia compared to other countries? 2) What lessons can be drawn in relation to the PISA science test results of East Asian countries and Singapore? The answers to these questions will be described as follows. This paper shows that education reform and assessment reform overlap due to triadic scope in education: objective-learning process-evaluation (assessment). All of these play important roles in education reform.