The Dynamics of Educators' Professional Competence Development through Assertive Communication in Junior High School Leadership

Teachers’ participation in professional development is often high, yet it does not always translate into classroom innovation, a persistent transfer-of-learning gap. This study explores how principals’ assertive communication was associated with teachers’ professional competence development in two junior high schools (one public, one private) in Brebes Regency, Indonesia. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was used: baseline teacher competence was descriptively mapped from the Ruang GTK platform and the Education Report (Rapor Pendidikan), followed by a qualitative phase with 22 purposively selected informants (principals, vice-principals, teachers, students, and parents). Data were gathered through surveys, interviews, observations, and document analysis, and analyzed using Miles et al.’s interactive model with triangulation. Baseline data showed high training participation (score 4) but stagnant instructional innovation and classroom management (scores 2–3). Four interactional dimensions of assertive communication emerged: directive transparency, dialogic respect, non-blaming corrective feedback, and facilitative advocacy. These were associated with reduced teacher defensiveness and greater openness to interactive and digital teaching, and varied with institutional readiness. The study frames assertive leadership as a dynamic system of instructional communication rather than a fixed trait. Given its two-school, non-causal design, the findings are context-specific; they suggest that sustaining competence requires structured post-training clinical supervision and a constructive feedback culture.