INSPIRASI Foundation is a non-profit organization focusing on school leadership issues. It has been operating since 2018 through pilot programs tailored to local needs in Karawang (West Java), Tegal (Central Java), and Southwest Sumba (East Nusa Tenggara).

INSPIRASI Foundation implemented a one-year pilot program (July 2020–June 2021) aimed at improving principals’ academic supervision competencies by transforming the Principals’ Working Group (Kelompok Kerja Kepala Sekolah/K3S) into a community of practice. This pilot program was conducted in three sub-districts in Karawang Regency.

The community of practice approach was selected based on three core principles:

• Mutual Engagement, in which community members share common goals and backgrounds;
• Joint Enterprise, where community members collaborate to achieve shared objectives; and
• Shared Repertoire, where members exchange good practices that are documented and later used as learning resources.

Through this program, INSPIRASI Foundation not only organized workshops for school principals but also involved school supervisors and K3S administrators. In addition, INSPIRASI Foundation provided direct, on-site mentoring in schools.

In designing the study, INSPIRASI Foundation involved 6 school supervisors, 12 K3S administrators, 59 principals, 130 teachers, and 567 students. The findings from this study were used to identify key areas for transforming K3S into a community of practice.

Throughout the process, four key factors were identified as critical to the transformation:

1. Local governments need to build the capacity of school supervisors and K3S administrators to act as facilitators within K3S;
2. Supervisors and K3S administrators must identify real and contextual challenges faced by principals in their schools;
3. Supervisors should consistently provide mentoring to principals as they implement change initiatives with teachers; and
4. Local governments need to identify influential and respected figures among principals at the sub-district level.

By strengthening principals’ academic supervision competencies, teachers receive better guidance, knowledge, and supervision. This, in turn, leads to improvements in teaching practices and lesson planning (RPP), which ultimately have a direct impact on student learning outcomes.