Sustainable Education Transformation in Eastern Indonesia: The Role, Challenges, and Strategies of Digital Leadership in Developing Teachers' Digital Competencies

Abstract

The acceleration of digital transformation in the education sector requires school principals to demonstrate strong digital leadership in order to effectively support the development of teachers' digital competencies, especially in schools located in developing areas with limited infrastructure, facilities, and a lack of digital literacy among teachers. This study aimed to examine the implementation of digital leadership by school the principal, the challenges faced, and the strategic operational plans undertaken in a school located in suburban area with limited technological infrastructure and uneven digital skill. This study used a qualitative design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 informants, followed by non-participant observation for three months and document analysis. Thematic analysis is used to identify and interpret patterns in the implementation of digital leadership, challenges encountered, and strategies applied in the context of schools with limited resources. The results of the study indicate that the principal's digital leadership is manifested through vision setting, sustainable teacher capacity building, and digital supervision, with the main constraints being limited networks, devices, and variations in teachers' digital literacy, while the strategies implemented include needs-based training, strengthening professional learning communities, digital supervision, and external collaboration. This finding confirms that adaptive digital leadership can drive digital transformation in schools even when infrastructure and competencies are limited.