School Principal Recruitment:

Reform of the Principal Recruitment System for Local/District Schools in Indonesia

Dion EfrijumGinanto

Research Statement
ZulkarenaenSyri L. was already optimistic that he wouldbe processed to the final administration
test for a school principal position, in Central Java. He was pretty sure that with all of his
materials and background, the local ministry of education would promote him to be a principal.
However, someone approached him, and told him that he needed to pay $6,000 as the
administrative fee to be given to the district mayor. This is because the district mayor needed a
lot of money as a return for his political campaign.Zulkarnaen finally decided not to pay the
$6,000, since he thought it was bribery.1 A senior journalist of Tempo, NanangSutrisna (2009),
reported that there are some cases in Jakarta where a school principal candidate needs to pay
$5,000 to be a primary school principal, $10,000 to be a middle school principal, and $60,000 to
be a high school principal.2
The reports from both Central Java and Jakarta, Indonesia, have created a negative perception of
the education quality of schools in Indonesia. These findings might also indicate the possibility
of so-called bribery in other locations/provinces.
School principals have a very important role in achieving their schools goals. Spillane et al.
(2004) wrote that it is generally acknowledged that when there are good schools, there are good
leaders. Competent principals are those who are able to create a strong vision, mission, and
goalsfor a school. However, if a principal does not have competency, then the school vision,
mission, and goals will be difficult to achieve.
School principals need to have expertise both in instructional and community leadership. He/she
needs to be able to leadteacher learning, student learning, and him or herself as a learner. As an
instructional leader, the school principal is required to focus his or her efforts on improving
teaching and learning (Jenkins, 2009). The shift from teaching to learning in todays context has
changed the role of the principal from an instructional leader to a learner leader (Jenkins,
2009). In addition to role learner leader, the school principal needs to play a role in the
community. He/she should be capable to develop relationships not only internally with faculty,
staff, and students, but also externally with parents, superintendents, stakeholders, and local
governments, in order to create a positive school climate/culture (Ginanto, 2012).
Indonesia, however, is currently lacking the fixed regulations for school leader hiring for
decentralized areas. In the transition to democracy, this country uses a decentralization system to
optimize local power and wisdom. Decentralization is a process of redistributing functions
and/or powers away from central to local authorities in order to create people welfare (Sumardi,
2012). Decentralization has given more privilegesto local governments to manage and administer
their district/province. This includes the decentralization of education. Alisyabana (2000) wrote
that decentralization gives more autonomy to local governments in education budgeting, teacher
management, and school principal recruitment, as well as the teaching and learning process.
Nevertheless, decentralization has also led to the nepotism of local leaders. They do not use the
regulations of the National Ministry of Education Number 13/2007 and Number 28/2010 as
guidance for the recruitment of school principals. As a result, the bribery practices in Central

Java and Jakarta have occurred. The malpractice of school principal hiring is assumed tobe in
allthe provinces in Indonesia (Roslinda, 2013).
Given the fact of school leader hiring in Indonesia, and theories about the important role of
school leaders,we can see that brave endeavors need to be undertaken to avoid the perpetuation
of malpractice in school leader hiring. Besides, creating a rigorous and accountable recruitment
process for school principals is imperative, in order to achieve school and education goals in
Indonesia, including the creation of students who are skillful and smart who posses strong moral
character.
Therefore, several important questions are posed for the above-mentioned phenomenon.
1. How are principals recruited in local districts in Indonesia? Is there any fixed model of
principal hiring for every districts and provinces in Indonesia (such as a principal
auction)?
2. Is there any possibility of involvingthe community in the principal hiring process?
3. What education policy and reform should be pursued to create a rigorous and accountable
selection process for school principal?
Significance
Every school districtin Indonesia obviously has a high desire to hire the best possible principals.
Not only do they face a pronounced shortage of qualified candidates, but they compound the
problem by using selection processes that lack coordination, lack consistent implementation, and
involve misbehaviors (The New Teacher Project, 2006).
There is a great news from Jakarta Province, that its new governor and vice governor initiated an
open and merit based process. Open and merit based process is a policy created by the Jakarta
government to insure an accountable and rigorous selection of school principals. In this policy,
all teachers are open to apply for the headmaster position in Jakartas schools, through the citys
auction process. Qualified teachers can apply online according to the criteria listed in regulation
No. 28/ 2010 about headmasters. The Jakarta Administration plans to auction off the position of
school headmasters at the end of 2013. The judging team and requirements for the open selection
of headmasters is currently being gathered and designed. The judging team is estimated to
consist of members from the Education Office, DKI Jakarta Inspectorate, Jakarta Employment
Agency, Bureau of Governance, and Legal Bureau.3My hypothesis about the open principal
recruitment in Jakarta is that, if the Jakarta hold the principal hiring with a fair process, the open
and merit based process will be successful.
Enhancing recruitment, building a truly rigorous selection process, and aggressively advancing
the principal hiring timeline requires the right people, adequate resources, and institutional
determination. Many school systems already face difficult day-to-day challenges, such as
designing the curriculum, creating a positive learning environment, and promoting learning
outcomes; and so they may be skeptical that change is possible (The New Teacher Project, 2006).
However, if the principal recruitment plan by the Jakarta government brings a positive result, this
policy will then bring a positive impact not only for Jakarta, but also for other provinces in
Indonesia.
This study is intended to connect research to policy change. I will conduct a Strength, Weakness,
Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) analysis of the Jakarta Open and Merit based selection process
in Jambi province. I will limit my research to one province in order to be more focused on a

specific area. Which I believe that conducting a SWOT analysis in Jambi province will motivate
others to conduct the same research in other provinces in the future.
Interest
I would like to pursue this research within Educational Administration at Michigan State
University, as the main methodology and research method I would like to use in this discipline.
_________
1

The true story of a school candidate who failed to be a

principal.http://willyediyanto.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/menjadi-kepala-sekolah-baru/
2

A report of an newspaper article, Tempo is one of the trusted media in Indonesia

http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2009/01/28/058157279/Departemen-Pendidikan-DitudingPaling-Banyak-Lakukan-Suap
3

http://acdpindonesia.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/school-headmaster-auction-to-be-held-at-theend-of-this-year/