The local education agency began planning for teacher redistribution shortly after the central government issued Government Regulation 74/2008 on Teachers. This regulation established the 24 hour requirement and other eligibility criteria for the professional allowance. The education agency carried out mapping ( _pemetaan_ ) to establish areas of teacher shortage and excess from 2009 but it was not until 2012 that it actually began to redistribute teachers. Education agency figures show that, of 12,000 PNS teachers working in District A around this time, 454 were moved in 2012, 249 in 2013, 60 in 2014 and 129 in 2015. But the 2012 figure includes 251 who moved at their own initiative between 2009 and 2011, so the real 2012 figure should be 203.<sup>52</sup> The increase between 2014 and 2015 was made necessary by the introduction of a new national curriculum in 2013 which eliminated some subjects from the curriculum. In the wake of the new curriculum, the education agency carried out a remapping of teacher supply and need to determine areas of shortage and excess. It then reassigned teachers to new types or levels and in some cases new schools so that they could meet the 24 requirement.<sup>53</sup> The key driving force of change in District A with regards to teacher redistribution has been a concern to help teachers meet the 24 hour and linearity<sup>54</sup> requirements for receiving the professional allowance attached to the certification program rather than concerns related to budgetary efficiency or educational quality (although the latter have been recognized as potential payoffs).<sup>55</sup> Change has not been donor-driven. USAID’s Prioritas program, which operates in the district, only became operational there in 2013, well after the government began to move on redistribution, although it has provided some legitimacy to the reforms by garnering international donor, education ministry and media attention (see, for instance, _Jawa Pos_ 2014).<sup>56</sup> The politics of redistributing teachers in District A had three discrete phases:

- <u>The first phase entailed school supervisors working out that many teachers in District</u> A would be ineligible for the professional allowance unless the local government redistributed them to places and roles that enabled them to meet the requirements of _Government Regulation No. 74 of 2008_ . They did this through discussions with school principals and teachers as part of their supervisory responsibilities, hearing complaints from teachers about being short of hours. They then made a recommendation for teacher redistribution to the head of the education agency’s Civil Service sub-section ( _Kasubag Kepegawaian_ ) through the School Supervisor Working Deliberative Group.<sup>57</sup>

- <u>The second phase entailed the head of the education agency’s Civil Service sub-section</u> working in conjunction with the head of the Civil Service Rotation Section ( _Kabid Mutasi Kepagawaian_ ) at the Regional Civil Service and Training Agency (BKDD) to persuade the head of the education agency, the _bupati_ , the vice- _bupati_ and other senior officials to sign off on a redistribution program. Parallel processes seem to have been

> 52 Interviews with senior education agency officials, District A, June 2015.

> 53 Interviews with senior education agency officials, District A, June 2015.

> 54 To receive the professional allowance, teachers have to teach subjects that are related to their academic qualifications and field of certification—i.e. teachers with maths qualifications should be teaching maths. This is referred to as linearity ( _linearitas_ ).

> 55 This came through particularly strongly in interviews with key actors within the education agency at the time. Their respective positions and roles are discussed in the main text.

> 56 For a more general analysis of the way in which local elites exploit donor programs for political advantage, see Choi and Fukuoka (2014).

> 57 Interview with a school supervisor and education agency official, District A, June 2015.

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