FIRST EXPERIENCE AS A SUPERVISOR MENTORING A SCHOOL ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF BOGOR CITY (Good Practice)

"Waduuuh…" I muttered to myself when I received the assignment letter from the Head of the Education Department regarding the distribution of supervised schools. My heart was confused and mixed with sadness. As a new supervisor, I had to accept this heavy task. According to the decree, I would be mentoring one of the farthest public schools and seven small private schools spread across three districts. However, whatever task is given must be carried out well. I would make this a life experience and a learning process as a new school supervisor.

A Suburban School with Many Good Practices (Personal Document)

The public school I was assigned to is located on the outskirts of the city, bordering another district. This school required serious attention in its mentoring. There were many negative stories about it, so I had to think hard to overcome them all. Previously, I sought complete initial data about this school from the previous supervising supervisor. There was a unique thing about this school: the principal kept changing, as if the school was a testing ground for new principals. The teachers also came and went, usually transferred from other regions.

There was a bad incident at this school two years ago when they lost many computers and laptops due to a burglary. This became a serious concern for the Education Department and all parties related to school security. On my first day of duty, I came accompanied by the previous supervisor. During the official handover meeting for school supervision duties, I had the opportunity to introduce myself and convey several points regarding my supervisory tasks. I asked all school members to accept me wholeheartedly as part of the school. I would learn by getting closer to them and be ready to listen to their grievances.

During my visits, I spent much of my time listening to complaints from teachers, administrative staff, security guards, gardeners, and the principal. Every time I came, there were always complaints, and I listened carefully. However, whenever I met with school members, I always asked what good things they had done and always took notes. I patiently listened to the complaints. Most school members began to learn to sort out the problems that were challenges to be solved.

I sought information about existing problems from the previous supervisor regarding teachers, administrative staff, and the principal. I always asked other supervisors for input. From the explanation with the previous supervisor, there was an inharmonious relationship between the principal and the teachers.

Learning from this, I had to start taking action and strategizing to formulate the existing challenges into strengths and potentials of this school. The challenges I identified included: a principal who never supervised classes, non-transparent school management, lack of cohesion between the principal, vice principals, and teachers, unequal workload distribution where some teachers were demanded to perform more while others were not, lack of appreciation for teacher performance, and always having negative suspicions. From the teachers' perspective, the identified issues included: placement of teachers as vice principals not matching their competencies, potentially good teachers not placed in suitable positions, unequal distribution of tasks in school activities, apathy, and decreased motivation in carrying out daily duties.

I already knew the problems, then I would look for good strategies and formulate them to create work teams at the school to improve learning and school management. I learned about the strengths, obstacles, opportunities, and threats of the school to organize and mentor it.

During a coaching meeting with the principal and teachers, I explained the competencies that teachers and principals should possess. I showed two videos: one on good learning practices and one on good principal practices in managing the school. When the Q&A session opened, I invited teachers and the principal to ask many questions about the videos.

During the discussion, I also asked back about several things. "What have you done in learning? Have there been any good practices implemented? Have your good practices been appreciated and rewarded by the principal?" Finally, every meeting participant was asked one by one about the good practices they had done.

I said that the principal and teachers are school leaders who must be able to create change. These school leaders must continuously improve their competencies, and their students demand them to make changes. Change will never happen if the school leaders remain silent. The students are waiting for the care, creativity, and empathy of the teachers and principal to bring change. A leader is an agent of change, so we must make educational changes for students. Even if it's as small as a "corn kernel," we must change. Then, all meeting participants were invited to reflect for a moment, imagining that they were students. Are we only going to complain, or must we take action?

I received ammunition to be enthusiastic during the coaching meeting: "We must be ashamed of ourselves, we must be grateful, let's leave all our complaints behind, let's replace them together with our good practices!!!" There are many gems in this school because I heard stories about their good practice experiences. This served as capital to discover the potential strengths of this school, finding those who could be mobilizers of change to implement good practices in their school.

I opened my notes and read out the good things from all school members, from the principal, teachers, administrative staff, security guards, gardeners, to the night watchman, which I had noted down. Many of the meeting attendees were shy upon hearing the good practice notes I shared. At the end of my assessment, this school had extraordinary potential to become a great school because it had many strengths that must be realized together.

After that, I presented a program to improve and enhance learning and school management. I offered suggestions to the principal and teachers to create school programs managed together with new teams. In these teams, work programs and achievements were always evaluated together, and I was always involved. If the team worked with the spirit of '45, I had a work spirit of '85. I continuously motivated them that great teams exist in this school; let's act together to implement good practices.

When the city-level limited face-to-face learning (PTMT) was about to be opened, this school immediately took action by forming a PTMT preparation committee. The first step was making a PTMT simulation video, and the result was excellent. The PTMT simulation video caught the attention of other schools. The next action was during the 9th-grade school exams; there was a problem. In the online exams, almost 30% of students did not participate for various reasons. The principal and I immediately formed a 9th-Grade School Exam Rescue Task Force. The team was formed and immediately worked by picking up students from their homes to bring them to school to take the exam. For several days, the team worked tirelessly, picking up and even waking students who were still sleeping soundly at home to go to school and complete their exams. Within a short time, all 9th-grade students successfully took the school exam as one of the graduation requirements.

During last Ramadhan, the student council organized a social event, sharing iftar meals with the surrounding community. They formed a school mosque renovation team, and the mosque construction continues, with incoming funds audited transparently and announced openly every week. The student affairs team, together with the IT team, created school habituation activities and uploaded them to the school's YouTube channel and Instagram account. Many YouTube contents have been created, so much good content has been shared on the MKKS, Curriculum, and City MGMP WhatsApp groups, making the school captivating and attracting the attention of many parties. In fact, currently, this school has two teachers who have graduated as "Guru Penggerak" (Mover Teachers) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. Meanwhile, other schools in the city center only have one or even none at all.

The presence of these two Mover Teachers apparently inspired other teachers to develop their competencies, and their performance improved remarkably. GWE training was also conducted to improve performance and enhance learning for all teachers at this school. Moreover, many collaborations were established regarding training with other institutions such as Ruang Guru, Telkomsel, and others. When the teachers' performance machine started rolling faster, I invited this school to participate in an anti-corruption short film competition from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), and they welcomed it warmly. For several days, students, teachers, the principal, and the supervisor were involved in making the anti-corruption film with the team at this suburban school.

Many works have been produced, real changes have occurred in the behavior of students, teachers, the principal, and all school members. Meaningful conversations emerge in every coaching meeting between the principal, teachers, and supervisor. These real changes make everyone, including me, proud, because the good work of listening, seeking strategies, and formulating a solid team has brought results. May these good practices continue continuously, spreading kindness, improving learning, and advancing the school. They are now proud of their school because it is captivating and has stolen the spotlight.

Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF8xIBnjVow&t=243s