Indonesia faces a persistent shortage of qualified school principals and instructional leaders, as the country advances the Merdeka Belajar (“Emancipated Learning”) reforms. To strengthen both student-centered teaching and the leadership pipeline, the Ministry of Education launched Pendidikan Guru Penggerak (PGP), a national-scale professional development program.

This study evaluates the pedagogical and leadership impacts of PGP Batch 5 using a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD), comparing 350 primary school teachers scoring just above and below the eligibility threshold across five districts in Java.

Drawing on the World Bank’s TEACH instrument and Ministry classroom observations, teacher and principal surveys, student and peer-teacher surveys, and three rounds of phone-based implementation monitoring, we find statistically significant improvements in instructional quality. Overall teaching quality increased by approximately 0.8 to 1.3 standard deviations (SD) across core instructional domains. The largest gains were observed in classroom culture and positive discipline, followed by providing a supportive learning environment, positive behavioral expectations, lesson facilitation, and promotion of critical thinking skills.

PGP graduates demonstrated early signs of leadership development, they were more likely to initiate peer-learning and coaching activities. While teachers reported greater leadership confidence, principals did not yet observe measurable school-level changes, consistent with the short post-training observation window.

No effects were found on socio-emotional competencies or differentiated instruction. Findings are internally valid for teachers near the cutoff in the five study districts but may not generalize nationally. Overall, the evidence suggests that structured, scalable professional development can substantially improve teaching quality and contribute to leadership development.

Authors:
Indah Shafira Zata Dini, World Bank, Indonesia
Jacobus Cilliers, Georgetown University, United States
Noviandri Khairina, World Bank, Indonesia
Noah Yarrow, World Bank, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Indah Shafira Zata Dini is a Research Analyst and Policy Consultant at the World Bank Indonesia, focusing on teacher development, early childhood education, and evidence-based policy reforms.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/indahshafira/

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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