"Critical reading of our worlds": an ethnographic study of dialogue as praxis in a community-founded school in Indonesia

Community-founded schools are part of the schooling system in Indonesia, yet the role of these schools is rarely recognized. When the economy crisis hit Asia, Indonesia was greatly affected. Many public and private schools were forced to shut down. Consequently, there was a drastic increase in the student dropout rate. Community-founded schools that existed at this time received specific attention as one of the solutions for providing quality preschool education in Indonesia. This one-year ethnographic study explored a community-founded preschool that has been offering education for underprivileged children for almost 30 years. The research was guided by an overarching question, "How does participation in a dialogue group influence the teachers' understandings of multicultural/social justice education (M/SJE) in a community-founded school?" In delving into this question, I initiated a dialogue group with the teachers. The primary data derived from those meetings. The data from our weekly dialogue sessions were triangulated with observations, interviews, teacher and researcher journals, and other documents such as the school’s archives and the Indonesian government’s policies. Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy provided the theoretical framework. The findings describe the journeys in which the teachers and I engaged in critically reading our worlds (Freire, 1970, 1987). Our efforts in critical reflections afforded us a deeper understanding of our identities. We critically reflected on the cultural, historical, political, and religious norms and policies that shaped our perceptions of our identities and positionalities in Indonesian society. We also unpacked our fears. The teachers showed bravery and inquisitiveness throughout the dialogues. These dialogues were also a conduit for the teachers to voice their opinions. The dialogue meetings functioned as a support system for the teachers at this community-founded school. Within these complex discussions, the perceptions toward students living in poverty, expectations toward these students, and the effects of the newly implemented government initiatives on early childhood programs toward their school were also discussed. This research provides a case study of a dialogue group with the teachers in one community-founded school in Indonesia from August 2013-July 2014. The findings have implications for educators and policy makers