G

etting our schools to achieve and keep up standards has been a major challenge for a considerable period of time now.

We have had to struggle through periods of endless criticisms of everything and everyone involved in education - from education ministers to school boards, teachers, students and even parents - on the national school curriculum, textbooks and examinations.

People have been scratching about for answers and solutions, and one of those which is quite commonly being put forward is international education.

International qualifications are being seen as a way of addressing Indonesia's education problems, or that might be more accurately stated as: finding a way around them or even avoiding them. International qualifications are now a part of our national schools and so we need to be aware of them, but we also need to be watchful of them. Just because the word "international" is used does not mean that we should be any less careful or demanding of standards.

In fact, I believe that where international qualifications are being administered we should be even more careful and watchful. It would be quite wrong to simply say, "Well it is international, so it must be OK." This has been shown to be an error of judgment when schools have been failing to achieve standards and parents have either been left stranded or have withdrawn their children in disgust from an underperforming school.

It almost seems as though it is too easy for schools to become "international" and there are not strong enough checks and balances to make sure that these schools are really performing and achieving results for children and parents. There are now so many schools that claim the status of providing international qualifications that it is almost amazing. But that amazement should not numb us but stimulate us into action.

That action can and even must come from parents. It seems unlikely that government inspectors will be asking sufficiently challenging questions and potentially withholding licenses to schools. Therefore, it is necessary for parents to do some checking up and questioning of these schools that claim to provide international qualifications.

The first and most obvious question is: what is the international qualification being offered? And that can be immediately followed up with: how does the awarding body or institution establish and maintain standards for the award of that qualification? The question about what qualification is being offered also seeks to probe into what international recognition the qualification will allow; such as will overseas universities recognize and accept the qualification as appropriate evidence and worthiness of moving into a college or university study program?

The question concerning the awarding body or institution is intended to tackle the more immediate means and methods via which standards are achieved and monitored for the qualification. We are talking about international qualifications here and so the qualification that is being awarded is from outside of Indonesia and so too then are the authorities and inspectors that are charged with the responsibility for making sure worthiness of the award has been achieved.

What we must be looking for, therefore, is the methods via which the international authority administers and controls quality. For example, are all of the examination papers sent to the source of the award for marking; or is there authority for examinations to be marked locally? If examinations can be marked locally, how does the overseas awarding authority make sure that its standards are being kept? (There is always the risk that when marking is done locally it can be less strict and so potentially lower standards and thresholds for a pass).

Likewise, how does the awarding authority make sure that standards are being achieved on a day-to-day basis for the benefit of the students; and that there is some insurance that teaching standards are being targeted and achieved? Does a school have to have its teachers specially trained, qualified and certified to be able to teach on the program of study?

It is possible to meet teachers that say that they are certified to be a teacher on a program of study simply because they have attended a one-day seminar with workshops. Does this really satisfy our criteria for what a certified teacher could and probably should be? Better programs of study, and thereby better schools, will have longer training provisions and requirements that might even include the teacher having to attend training overseas.

Essentially what we are trying to determine here is how well the locally based school is set up and established to really deliver the international standards required. If the international body or institution that is in effect partnering with the school in providing an international qualification does not impose such requirements, then we may begin to question the level of commitment and overall standards being brought into Indonesia.

Good international partnering might include the possibility of international exchanges. This could include both teachers and students and so allow both to benefit from international exposure and experiences. A school that exists here in Indonesia with an international partner overseas might be able to have its teaching staff go to and teach at the international location. Likewise, student exchange programs could prove very fulfilling for students from both locations.

All of the above could assist in the day-to-day management and so too the overall development of the school and international standards here in Indonesia. But another method of quality control can come from inspection visits. This can mean that the awarding body or institution will send staff directly to the school with the intention of inspection and then certification, or not, of the school as a provider of the qualification.

Inspections like this can be very instructive for the school, as the inspectors will have checklists to go through and be able to make recommendations on the basis of their observations of how well the school is running.

Such inspections also eliminate the possibility of collusion and corruption undermining the whole inspection process. The inspectors must inspect and report and if they are inaccurate their jobs will be on the line.

The list of methods and means via which international qualifications can and will have their standards checked could go on, but the message is already clear enough. Parents can do the same kind of checking themselves and satisfy themselves that schools are really living up to, and are able to deliver, the standards that should come from and with international education. We cannot be complacent; the precious education of our children is at stake.