On Wednesday, May 3, 2023, an Education Seminar themed "Psychology and Educational Policy" was held on the Ground Floor of the Central Administration Building of Campus III Paingan, Sanata Dharma University. This seminar was held to add broader insight and knowledge related to educational issues for lecturers and students. The event was hosted by Father Ernest S.J., S.Psi., M.Hum as the moderator. Opening remarks were delivered by Dr. Yohannes Baptista Cahya Widiyanto M.Sc, the Faculty Dean of Psychology in Sanata Dharma University. The key speaker for this educational seminar was Mr. Anindito Aditomo S.Psi., M.Phil., Ph.D. who served as Head of the Ministry of Education and Culture's Education Standards, Curriculum, and Assessment Agency. He and his research staff have launched dozens of policy changes in the education system in Indonesia which were launched in the independent learning curriculum. In delivering the material, he conveyed several things about the education system in Indonesia.


Mr. Aditomo made a brief introductory point regarding financial assistance from the government for the health and education sectors in Indonesia. According to him, the funds provided by the Indonesian government to improve the education system in Indonesia are excellent, and it even beat some other developed countries in Asia and America. He also alluded to the independent learning curriculum system. The independent learning system is intended so that everyone can learn anywhere and at any time, while still following the values ​​of Pancasila. He also mentioned that a good education in an area can be judged by the extent to which students have basic skills such as counting, reading, writing, and comprehension of reading content. The vision of independent learning is to educate the nation's children to have basic skills and character in learning. These basic skills are a benchmark that shows the extent of students’ abilities to do a certain purpose with the base of knowledge that they have, not just what they know. What is measured in independent learning is not the vastness of knowledge, but what can be done with the provided knowledge as a base of reasoning skills. To achieve the vision of independent learning, the Ministry of Education strives to ensure that every school becomes a safe, high quality, and inclusive learning environment for every student involved.



There were several key points discussed by Mr. Anindito Aditomo S.Psi., M.Phil., Ph.D., namely regarding "What is the role of scientific research and campus academics in the formulation and implementation of various policies, especially in independent learning?" Research is not an activity that is used to make policies, but is an activity that produces knowledge. No research directly answers practical questions faced by policymakers because it is not studied by academic research. The quality of academic research in Indonesia is still low because most academic research in the educational context in Indonesia is not credible enough to be used in policy-making. Therefore, policymakers tend to use high-quality research from international institutions, where it cannot be implemented in Indonesia due to political affairs.

There are three important roles for research and campus academics in policy formulation, namely that we use review research to understand the initial conditions and events. After understanding the initial conditions, we need studies to design technical aspects in policy formulation. Then, after the policy has been made and tested, we need studies to evaluate the impact of the policy. In short, research produces knowledge which is then processed through the process of policy analysis by taking into account the socio-political context and consequences. Only then, this policy analysis process produces evidence of policy options and recommendations which are then read by policymakers to formulate policies. We know research cannot answer policy problems, but we do some convincing research on issues that matter to the public. Policymakers need help synthesizing the evidence, namely consultants who are tasked with synthesizing evidence. Here what is important to make explicit is what is sacrificed, there must be someone who benefits and is sacrificed, and that is natural in public policy because money is limited. After the policy has been formulated and tested, academics can become partners in implementing the new policy socialization strategy to the public through communication and the media. If a good policy is not communicated with a good socialization strategy, there will be a risk of being misunderstood by the public.

The event ended with a QnA session between the speakers, moderators, and students of the Faculty of Psychology, especially those taking the Educational Psychology course. After the QnA was over, there was a memento handover session for the speakers, namely Mr. Anindito Aditomo S.Psi., M.Phil., Ph.D. who was represented by the Dean of the Faculty of Psychology, namely Dr. Yohannes Baptista Cahya Widiyanto M.Sc.This educational seminar ended at 12.30 WIB.

( Vannessa , Vina , Hugo )