“Elevate: HighScope Indonesia Inspires Educators to Craft Effective Learning Experiences for Students”

Nurturing Lifelong Learners with Meaningful Impact

Jakarta, October 6, 2023 - The pace of change in the world remains unpredictable. Recent years have witnessed numerous challenges in the education sector, ranging from global pandemics and environmental disasters to shifts in values, cultural transformations, and economic instability. In addition, technology is advancing rapidly, offering the public easy access to artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, and other groundbreaking innovations. The current generation faces challenges on an unprecedented scale. They are bombarded with a constant stream of information, reliant on quick-fix solutions, and trapped in a slowly evolving education system. Learning for them can easily become a monotonous ordeal. In this context, there's a lesser-known quote from Ki Hajar Dewantara, Indonesia’s education pioneer, which states, "Children live and grow according to their own nature. Educators can only nurture and guide the development of that nature." In a world brimming with new challenges, how can educators inspire this generation of students to become lifelong learners?"

In HighScope Indonesia, we believe that a school is life’s laboratory. In our growing school network of the Early Childhood Education program to High School, our teachers facilitate our students with the skills they need, that is with the HighScope Indonesia Learner Outcomes: Meta-level Reflection, Expert thinking, Creativity & Innovation, Adaptability & Agility, Audience-Centered Communication, Synergistic Collaboration, Empathetic Social Skills, and Ethical Leadership. We aim for our students to become self-regulated leaders, comprehending concepts, utilizing their 21st century skills, and integrating values into their lives, all while embracing a lifelong learning mindset. 

This year, with the theme “Elevate: Crafting Effective Learning Experiences for Meaningful Impact,” for the 13th HighScope Indonesia Annual Conference, HighScope Indonesia hopes to inspire and guide teachers, principals, and attending educators carefully craft learning experiences for students and always striving to ensure that they receive a profound and lasting impact. “Our educators play a pivotal role, not just in imparting subject matter but in instilling these life skills and fostering purposeful lives,”  said Antarina S.F Amir, founder and CEO of HighScope Indonesia during the conference’s opening speech. “In fact, we are very proud that we are writing a book that discusses these very skills with Professor Thomas Guskey, a world-renowned expert in Grading and Reporting. The book titled ‘Life Skills for All Learners: How to Teach, Assess and Report Education’s New Essentials’ is one of the first in the world to holistically describe these 21st century skills as a continuum throughout different developmental levels.”

This is the fourth time the conference is held virtually, making it possible for more than 500 HighScope teachers, staff and educators from different provinces, and including several international guests to join the sessions. Since 2011, HighScope Indonesia has regularly organized the HighScope Indonesia Annual Conference, a series of seminars and workshops for all teachers, school principals, and other education practitioners. This conference serves as a platform for HighScope educators from Indonesia and around

the world - from preschool, elementary, middle school, to high school levels - to exchange ideas and engage in continuous learning. Aligned with our mission to help Indonesian children develop holistically -

academically, intrapersonally, interpersonally, and physically - and to be internationally competitive, our conference consistently helps build a community of lifelong learners and educators.

The 13th HighScope Indonesia Annual Conference is honored to have globally recognized education experts as our speakers, sharing their insights and experiences, opening dialogues and answering questions from our eager teachers. On Day 1, Rick Wormeli (author of the award-winning book Meet Me in the Middle and bestseller Day One and Beyond, Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessment and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom) delivered his keynote address titled Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders with Executive Function Skills. Wormeli explains how it’s not uncommon for teachers to overlook the importance of nurturing executive function development in our students. “Our entire future, in technology, medicine, education, law, literature, art, music, every time we progress or evolve in these fields, is because somebody parted ways with the conventional practices of the time. Our future is in their hands, so our classrooms cannot be an answer-chase where they try to elicit one right answer, it should be set up as a question journey. We want to invite students to ask as many questions as possible. Whoever is asking the question is doing the most learning. So rather than the teachers who ask, what we want is to create a classroom where the students can ask questions and express their curiosity.” Other speakers featured on Day 1 included renowned international education consultants: Monica Burns, Ed.D. (EdTech expert and Founder of Class Tech Tips) and Elizabeth MeLampy (Director of Curriculum at Gretchen’s House), Tiza Mafira (Director of Climate Policy Initiative), and Diah Arum Witasari (ICF-Professional Certified Coach).

On Day 2, the conference continued with Dr. Derek Cabrera (Systems Theorist & Cognitive Scientist at Cornell University). During Dr. Cabrera’s session, titled 'Systems Thinking and Mental Fitness in Education,' he emphasized the significance of systems thinking for both students and teachers. He stated, “Your students will appreciate it too because it informs  them about how their brains function, and their brains are something they will carry with them throughout their lives. Giving them the  ability to think is the most important  gift a teacher can give their  students for a lifetime.” Dr. Cabrera said in the interview after his session. Other speakers newly joining us on Day 2 included Dr. Sandra Webb (Consultant at the Education Research Group),  Prof. Rhenald Kasali, PhD (Professor of Management at University of Indonesia). In his session titled “New Science New World,” Professor Kasali reminded us of the importance to cultivate Growth Mindset for our students, “Don't let your students become complacent,  seeking easy achievements. You need to give them challenges, but do not let them feel threatened by others' accomplishments," said Kasali in his session.

The second half of Day 2 of the conference will feature our Learning Heroes, the HighScope Indonesia teacher’s sharing session. Selected teachers from Early Childhood Program, Elementary School, to Middle School and High School will host their sessions, where they share their experiences and insights to their fellow educators. As an educational institution that constantly adapts to the evolving world, HighScope Indonesia consistently enhances the competencies of its teachers so they can provide meaningful and up-to-date learning experiences for all learners. Preparing them to face a myriad of new challenges and continuing to  inspire this generation of students and the next to become lifelong learners and self-regulated leaders.