Other factors that have been highlighted as possible constraints included:

• Poor coordination in Dinas
• The lack of a planning section in the district Dinas office
• Some school principals and teachers find it difficult to accept change. Deputy Head of district Dinas office estimated that some 25-30% of the primary schools were unconcerned with introducing innovations.
• Some sub-district Dinas had not accepted changes yet either. This group also included some supervisors.

3.5 Summarizing the Evidence

At this early stage in the decentralization - change process, it is possible to conclude that several necessary elements need to be present simultaneously:

1. The legal enabling situation - decentralization devolved responsibility and authority away from the central ministry to district education offices

2. The stimulus to change - need to see alternative ways of doing things in situ through visits to schools displaying good/ best practice

3. The role of individuals/ personalities are the driving force

4. The enabling situation/ circumstances are paramount. This can be compared with the less conducive climate of the 1980s in which the ALPS/CBSA project attempted to work for change. Moreover, Dinas has initiated/ embarked on its own program of change

5. Active support for change from bureaucrats needs to be present, from the district education office and the district government (Dinas and Bupati, respectively)

6. Visible, concrete evidence that introduced changes are workable and yield results is the basis for gaining acceptance by others and for dissemination to other "acceptors"

7. There needs to be a reason to change, and tangible benefits

8. There has to be an understanding that not all changes are progress, that is, worthwhile and for the better, and the only way to solve a problem

9. Change progresses more easily when it is within the established system or answers a need, like MBE programs, rather than creating new agencies

10. The local culture, ie attitude towards education/ schooling, is paramount

11. Some vital elements of the whole system remain to be changed - namely, the assessment system - although some notable changes are underway.

      There is one caveat: the degree of change is important. It needs to be remembered that not all schools have changed (Bpk Sudirman, KaDinas Probolinggo). One estimate by district Dinas staff (Bpk Supanut) is that approximately 10% of Probolinggo's primary schools have instituted sufficient changes that they could stand alone and continue to innovate while a further 20% are improving along desired lines. However, some schools have changed more in form than substance. A much more reserved estimate is that some 5 schools have reached this point. That is, they have a good school principal, a strong and active school committee, and supportive teachers who use good teaching learning methods which are active and not monotonous. They include: SDN Ngepung, SDN Sukokerto 1, SDN Maron Wetan 1, SDN Sukapura 1, SDN Kedungdalam 2.

3.7 Lessons to be Shared

      The following are derived from discussions with various key personnel (who are acknowledged) in the district as well as the research team's observations in schools.

• Change depends on the initiative of one person or a very small group of people at first. Someone has to have sufficient courage to make the first changes and to defend them in the face of sceptics and more covert opposition. (Bpk Supanut, Ibu Wiwik)

• Having authority within the hierarchy of an institution, ie. being in a high position in the district education office, does not automatically result in acceptance of the changes one may propose. The change agent still has to convince others that the changes are worthwhile. S/he can not simply push for change. This is one strategy however, that is used by Bpk Supanut, who then displays the results to sceptics.

• Change agents come from all strata of the education establishment, not just from the top layers. Ibu Wiwik, the first to introduce changes in her school, is an early grades primary school teacher.

• Tangible and worthwhile changes need to be displayed. Once seen, increasingly others will be convinced that the changes are beneficial and worthwhile adopting. (Ibu Wiwik, Bpk Supanut)

• Change requires effort. First, the effort to find, think up, implement initiatives, show and discuss ideas. Second, the emotional effort to withstand criticism. (Ibu Wiwik) Third, the public relations efforts required to continually promote a worthwhile idea by explaining and re-explaining it. (Ibu Wiwik)

• That effort needs to come from within too. Too many teachers were waiting for added inputs, in CLCC project schools in particular. This implies one of two things: either they have only a superficial acquaintance with the reasons for the innovations (ie PAKEM methodology). Or their past training experiences were insufficient for them to be able to think up or extend new tasks for themselves. (Some early grades teachers were voicing this experience).

• Changes in teaching methods need consolidating and internalising by teachers so that they become part of their established and regular repertoire of skills and knowledge. They become part of their routine but are also built on. They are not referred to as "doing PAKEM" - they become the norm. (Only a few examples of this were seen).

• The rate of change slows down. Innovations become harder to find/make. The rate of change almost stops. A plateau is reached where change and innovation becomes much slower. The effort required to get over this point can be greater than the initial efforts to reach it. (Many teachers in CLCC schools seemed to be at this stage).

• The reasons underpinning some changes were not always fully understood although implemented in schools. For example, displays of pupils work in many schools were of routine exercises rather than quality pieces chosen for their originality or to celebrate a child's progress in a particular skill. Many pieces were not written in the child's own words, either.

• Good ideas need institutionalising into the system (Bpk Edy Boediono).

• Questions and objections are a sign that the participants care. When everyone regularly agrees immediately with a proposal, then school committee meetings, for example, are a rubber stamping formality only.

• There will always be some resistance to change. Some people will have more legitimate reasons to do so and others less. Those reasons will be all important to the stakeholder however, and may or may not be open to negotiation. School principals and teachers were naturally concerned about the unknown impact of PAKEM teaching methods on end-of-primary-cycle (UAS) test results.

• A difference in views in an institution is inevitable and healthy. For example, all district Dinas offices are staffed by a mixture of ex-ministry of education staff and ex-Home Affairs personnel, who were brought together under one roof with decentralization. As a result, there are at least two groups of persons with views of how to progress and develop their district's education system. Both groups and all other groups forming and re-grouping within the district education office are learning and trying to come to terms with the changes and their new role. One group may be more innovative and ready to welcome change than others. This situation should be seen as a challenge for the public relations skills of innovators, not as a constraint.

• Furthermore, the resistance encountered by Ibu Wiwik obviously spurred her on, as did the convincing support she received from her parents. Without that challenge, she may have reached the limit of her inventiveness sooner and stopped at a "lower level" (like some other early grades teachers). Instead, she continued not only to adapt and extend what she had seen and heard about, but also to develop and disseminate her own innovations, thus becoming a role model and impetus for others to follow.