8/10/2019 Pemburu Beasiswa04 Statement of Purpose

1/2

Statement of Purpose

Dion Ginanto

My desire to continue my studies by pursuing a doctoral degree has grown

deeply throughout my Educational Leadership studies at Michigan State University.It has become stronger through several courses, especially a course about creatingaccountability in schools and achieving a positive school climate. After gettinginvolved in several experiences in high schools in Indonesia, I do believe that schoolleadership is a very important factor in well-functioning education systems andschools. School leadership is important for school effectiveness and for preparingstudents to achieve their future success (Hariri et al., 2012)1. To create a successfulschool, strong leadership is considered to be its basic foundation. However, studiesof school leadership are few in the Asian context (Raihani, 2008 in Hariri et al.,2012)2, including in Indonesia.

My intention is to continue my intellectual quest from my Masters program,

which is about educational administration and leadership. I would like to investigatefurther the process of recruiting teachers, staff, and school principals in Indonesia.More specifically, I am considering doing research on how policies can impactprincipal hiring practices, and on how policies can make those practices moreequitable. In my country, the school principal issue is now becoming an interestingtopic in the area of education. Since 2001, the management and administration ofeducation has changed drastically, from centralization to decentralization. Thisincludes the recruitment process for public school principals. As a result, there aredifferent mechanisms for hiring school leaders in every school district. Indonesiahas already had guidance in the recruitment of school principals, through theregulation of the National Education Minister number 13/2007 and number

28/2010. However, the absence of supervision from the Education Ministry hascaused local governments to create their own mechanisms of recruitment, andthereby creating bribery and nepotism in the hiring process. Sutisna (2009)3reported that in DKI Jakarta (the capital city of Indonesia), a principal candidateneeds to pay $5,000 for becoming a primary school principal, $10,000 for becominga junior high school principal, and $60,000 for becoming a high school principal.

Therefore, the role of the principal as an instructional leader and acommunity leader cannot be implemented well in schools, and a positive schoolclimate/culture is difficult to achieve. The absence of internal and external checksand balances from both the Ministry of Education and society has led to weakening

1Hariri, et.al (2012) Principalship in an Indonesian school context: Can principaldecision-making styles significantly predict teacher job satisfaction?, SchoolLeadership & Management: Formerly Organization, 32:5, 453-471.2idem3Sutisna, Nanang (2009) Departemen pendidikan dituding paling banyak lakukansuap. Retrieved from:http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2009/01/28/058157279/Departemen-Pendidikan-Dituding-Paling-Banyak-Lakukan-Suap

http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2009/01/28/058157279/Departemen-Pendidikan-Dituding-Paling-Banyak-Lakukan-Suaphttp://www.tempo.co/read/news/2009/01/28/058157279/Departemen-Pendidikan-Dituding-Paling-Banyak-Lakukan-Suaphttp://www.tempo.co/read/news/2009/01/28/058157279/Departemen-Pendidikan-Dituding-Paling-Banyak-Lakukan-Suaphttp://www.tempo.co/read/news/2009/01/28/058157279/Departemen-Pendidikan-Dituding-Paling-Banyak-Lakukan-Suaphttp://www.tempo.co/read/news/2009/01/28/058157279/Departemen-Pendidikan-Dituding-Paling-Banyak-Lakukan-Suap

8/10/2019 Pemburu Beasiswa04 Statement of Purpose

2/2

education policy for leader hiring in a decentralized system. This also results in thelack of distributed and shared leadership in schools, which leads to lesscollaborative cultures in the buildings. The research on principal recruitmentpolicies will help create an accountable, fair, and equitable system for schoolprincipal hiring.

At Michigan State University, there are several professors with whom I aminterested in working: Dr. Kristy Cooper who studies school improvement, dropoutprevention, and the qualities of effective schools; Dr. Muhammad Khalifa, whoworks on how schools can create an overlap between school and community; Dr.Amita Chudgar who works on equal access fro children and adult to high qualitylearning opportunities irrespective backgrounds; and other professors in K-12Educational Administrations can help me shape and improve my inquiry andefficacy in doing deeper research on educational administration and leadership.Michigan State University, especially the College of Education, has been known as arespected institution, which has a strong research reputation among universities atnational and international levels. I am confident in my ability to make use of my

opportunity to study for my Ph.D. in Educational Administration at Michigan StateUniversity, in order to become a professor and a researcher, and to contribute toreform in my home country.