Belonging matters: How context and inequalities shape student achievement in Indonesia

This study investigates how school type, school location, and student socioeconomic status (SES) jointly shape student achievement in mathematics, reading, and science in Indonesia, using the Indonesian subsample of the 2022 PISA dataset (n = 13,059). Building on Bourdieu’s framework of capital, habitus, and field, the analysis applies random-slope hierarchical linear models (HLM) to explore how institutional and geographical inequalities interact with student background and broader school characteristics (e.g., teacher quality, school climate, educational leadership, parental involvement).

Results reveal persistent urban–rural disparities, with students in more urbanized settings achieving higher scores across all domains. Although school type did not predict outcomes as a main effect, its interaction with location was significant: public schools outperformed private institutions in most urban contexts, while private independent schools had an advantage in megacities, and private government-dependent schools fared better in rural areas. Socioeconomic gradients were steeper in urban settings, reflecting stronger stratification processes. Among additional school-level factors, shortages of educational materials consistently predicted lower achievement, and negative student behavior was linked to lower science scores.

These findings challenge the common assumption that private schools uniformly deliver superior outcomes. Instead, they underscore how institutional selectivity, resource allocation, and geographical context collectively reproduce educational inequalities in Indonesia. The study highlights the need for policies addressing resource shortages and stratification mechanisms, particularly in disadvantaged schools and rural areas.