A critical analysis of Indonesia's 2013 national curriculum: Tensions between global and local concerns

Abstract This paper critically examines Indonesia's 2013 national curriculum, implemented in 2019. The most significant change is the mandated use of formative assessment, which we argue is an example of policy borrowing, a trend also seen in many other countries globally. We argue that this policy has been adopted due to global and regional pressure on Indonesia to improve its education system. Alongside this, the 2013 curriculum has a strong emphasis on student attitudes, thereby promoting Indonesian national interests. Taking a holistic approach to our analysis, we follow Priestley et al.'s (2012) conceptual framing of sites of curriculum and draw on a wide range of data including policy texts, existing studies, media texts and teacher voice, to illustrate inconsistencies in the way formative assessment has been interpreted through the policy‐making process. Our analysis also highlights tensions between formative assessment and the Indonesian education system and cultural context. As we exemplify, curriculum making is a complex process involving many stakeholders; teachers are not mere enactors of policy and should not be viewed as the source of the ‘problem’ when issues occur. Our study will be of interest to others in examining the trend of diffused policy borrowing in non‐western settings.