SMP Negeri 1 Tellulimpoe

An Inspiring School

Drs. Muslim, the School Principal of SMPN1 Tellullimpoe, Sidrap, South Sulawesi had the opportunity at the DBE3 National Review and Planning Meeting in Surabaya to explain the various changes that have occurred in his school as a result of DBE3 support. What makes this an inspiring school?

The Principal as Change Maker
Change is the only evidence of life. Muslimin, the principal, believes that is really true and aims to implant the idea in the mind of every teacher and member of staff at his school. He has taken a number of steps to change things. First, he regularly tells the teachers that learning means developing the potential and intelligence of students. Each student has a different intelligence. To develop it we must adopt the right means and processes. Second, he asks the teachers to focus on increasing their targets for completing the curriculum.

This is important to measure the productivity of the teachers. However, he reminds the teachers not to condemn students as stupid because of poor test results. In his opinion intelligence should not be measured only by formal tests. He believes that potential or intelligence is dynamic. He is convinced that the national exam is not the only tool to measure the success of learning. He regards the development of life skills as very important and has started to integrate this into lessons.

Third, he remains committed to provide the equipment, learning resources and instructional media needed by teachers and students. Their use is essential to support contextual learning. In his view, contextual learning is necessary to develop the students' multi-dimensional intelligence. Through these active learning processes students also develop life skills.

The Subject Teacher as Class Manager

Much has changed. Teachers compete to increase the achievement of the curriculum targets, implement active learning and develop student life skills during their lesson. Teachers and the principal have agreed to implement contextual learning approaches. Learning is organized in a series of classroom laboratories. The 30 classrooms have become learning resource rooms. The work of students from each lesson is selected and displayed artistically. Students' work is also collected as portfolios in plastic folders and then laid out neatly in the classrooms. The aim is for this work to be used regularly for reference in learning other related material.

Each classroom is allocated to a particular subject. Therefore, students move class between lessons. 21 classes (7 each from grades 7, 8 and 9) move for the beginning of each new lesson (at the 3rd and 5th periods). The management of the classroom is the responsibility of each subject teacher. There are 4 science classrooms; 4 social studies classrooms, 4 mathematics classrooms, 4 Indonesian language classrooms; 4 English class; 2 religion classrooms; 2 civics classrooms; 2 ICT classrooms; 2 art and culture classrooms; 1 PE classroom; and 1 local curriculum content classroom.

Each subject teacher has become a class manager. They are responsible for maintaining the attractiveness, character and richness of their classrooms as learning laboratories. With this design of classroom, teachers feel their lessons are more effective, students are not bored in class and teachers are motivated to work harder.

The School Development Team
This team consists of the school principal as supervisor and all the subject coordinators. It was formally established by an edict of the school principal in early 2010 after the teachers completed the training module BTL2. Its responsibilities include:
(1) Encouraging the implementation of active learning,
(2) Analyzing the achievement of targets by teachers in each subject,
(3) Analyzing the equipment, learning resources and instructional media needed by teachers and students,
(4) Organizing a teachers' capacity building program and
(5) Formulating the School Work Plan. As a result the school has been able to develop and institutionalize active learning.