Boosting Teacher’s Perception and Deeds in Indonesian Schools for the Character Education to Thrive

The ministerial reform on character education in Indonesian schools and its effect on school practices remain a challenge as the roles of school leadership have been significantly unaddressed. This study aimed to examine the effect of school managerial practices on teachers’ beliefs and perceptions in character education. This cross-sectional survey collected data from 574 teachers from the randomly selected 105 primary, junior and senior secondary schools in five districts throughout Indonesia. Using very simple models of education production function, this research found that the quality of school managerial practices had impacts on teachers’favorable beliefs and initiatives to create and manage students’ activities in schools and boost students’ values. Driven by the parental pressure to school, the principals were to build and manage local development measures as stipulated in the ministerial policy. Among those was the continuous professional development that enabled the teachers to learn, to discuss, and to share their best practices with others in a continuous manner.