Author: Faisal Bahrun
Bahrun, Faisal, 2025 Deconstructing NGO’s impact on education policies in Indonesia: The case of inclusive education, Flinders University, College of Business, Government and Law
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This thesis explores the influence of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on the discourse surrounding inclusive education policy in Indonesia since 1998. Although inclusive education has been officially recognised through legal reforms and international agreements, how its meanings are constructed, contested, and institutionalised has not been thoroughly examined. Using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA), particularly focusing on the concepts of genealogy, archaeology, and governmentality, this research critically investigates the role of NGOs as discursive agents in shaping the narratives of inclusive education.
This research examines three Indonesian NGOs by analysing policy documents, advocacy materials, and public communications. It aims to identify the discursive strategies used to advance a rights-based perspective on disability and education. The results indicate that these NGOs have significantly contributed to the redefinition of inclusive education, moving away from a medical and charity-centric framework towards one rooted in social justice and human rights. Nonetheless, this transformation is not fully realised; state institutions still exert discursive control by selectively adopting NGO language, using deficit-based terminology, and consistently sidelining disabled voices in the policy-making process.
This study advances critical policy scholarship by emphasising NGOs' intricate and often conflicting role, serving both as advocates and as regulatory entities involved in promoting inclusion. It illustrates the importance of FDA in showcasing how power and knowledge flow within educational discourse and provides insights into the discursive conflicts that support the pursuit of inclusive education in Indonesia.
Keywords: Inclusive Education, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Indonesia, Policy Discourse, Civil Society, Post-structuralism, Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
Subject: Policy and Administration thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2025
School: College of Business, Government and Law
Supervisor: Dr Dilnoza Ubaydullaeva, PhD (ANU), FHEA