www.anpsonline.org

By. Richard Henry

As a National school that implements the IB curriculum, Sekolah Global Jaya is obliged to fulfil the requirements of both curricula. One of the ways that we do this in our school is through celebrating Indonesia’s Independence Day. The moment of this celebration is appreciated through a holistic approach both in and outside the curriculum activities. In Humanities, for example, our final year MYP students learned about the history of Indonesia during the colonial period. During Bahasa Indonesia, students wrote a poem to express their ideas on how to celebrate the day. A gallery was prepared by the senior school students to educate the school community about their national heroes. With the theme of “Building Indonesia with Creativity”, this event gave broad opportunities for student to explore this theme in a variety of ways. The culmination of these activities is the national ceremony called Upacara. This ceremony involves students, teachers and parents. The day ends with the traditional games competition. This event not only becomes a showcase about how we can approach the curriculum in a holistic way but gives the students a chance to reflect on their involvement in an international educational system while encouraging them to understand and appreciate their nationality. Here is a reflection written by one of our Year 10 students.  
 
 

Daryl Forde, Executive Principal, Sekolah Tiara Bangsa – ACS (International) Jakarta

Chairperson, Association of National Plus Schools in Indonesia.

Concern about the quality of education has been expressed by philosophers, politicians, parents and educators for centuries. The concern stems from how individuals perceive the role and nature of education in society and it is a concern that will doubtless continue to exist. Over the past decade, there has been a resurgence of interest on how to improve the content of specific subjects, particularly language learning, science and mathematics. Many countries have revised syllabi in these subjects in order to improve student performance. This focus on content has been very successful in those countries where the attainment of knowledge is regarded as the most important ingredient of a quality education.  And to ensure that the quality is maintained, a standard of performance by students is measured by regular testing and the use of standardized benchmarks. Singapore has led the field in providing a focus on content. International research by Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) a leading global international science and mathematics study, has placed Singapore as a leader in demonstrating that curriculum content is a powerful and important factor in ensuring strong student performance.