Sociocultural Drivers of Local Educational Innovations: Findings from Indonesia

What drives educational innovation to emerge at local level?

Abstract

What drives educational innovation to emerge at local level? We contribute on this question by examining three highly innovative districts in Indonesia. Our specific aim is to understand how the innovations are related to the districts鈥� socio-cultural context. Through a combination of qualitative research methods comprising of observations, interviews, and group discussions with stakeholders in each study location, we identified three aspects of the socio-cultural context 鈥� resulting from the embodiment of social norms within a districts鈥� social networks 鈥� that significantly determined how local innovations are defined and implemented in each district: (1) the norms of trust among community members, (2) tradition, or lack thereof, of collaboration at community and elite levels, (3) people鈥檚 participation. We recommend that districts establish innovation exchange connections so that they can learn from each other, and that central government to be cognizant of local differences when crafting national education policies.

This research is part of the 鈥楻esearch on Improving Systems of Education鈥� programme

Citation

Nihayah, R.W., Revina, S., and Usman, S. 2020. Sociocultural Drivers of Local Educational Innovations: Findings from Indonesia. RISE Working Paper Series. 20/043. https://doi.org/10.35489/BSG-RISE-WP_2020/043.

Updates to this page

Published 21 October 2020