Adaptive and Collaborative Local Curriculum Leadership in Developing Culturally Rooted Learning

Abstract

This study examines how school principal leadership develops and sustains Pencak Silat as a local content curriculum in primary education. Using a qualitative case study design, the research involved the school principal and the teacher responsible for the Pencak Silat program as key informants. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and documentation, and were analyzed using the Miles and Huberman interactive model. Data credibility was strengthened through source triangulation, method triangulation, and member checking. The findings show that the principal develops the program through six interconnected dimensions: curriculum integration, instructional adaptation, teacher capacity building, external collaboration, achievement development, and value internalization. The curriculum is progressively structured for students in Grades 3–6, supported by practical learning, audiovisual media, teacher development, and collaboration with external Pencak Silat actors. Principal commitment, institutional resources, and stakeholder collaboration function as enabling conditions, while limited specialized instructors, facility constraints, student concentration, and other implementation conditions require continuous adaptation. The study proposes an adaptive and collaborative local curriculum leadership model, in which adaptation ensures that culturally rooted content remains developmentally appropriate and pedagogically feasible, while collaboration enables schools to mobilize expertise, resources, and cultural networks beyond their internal capacity. The study contributes to curriculum leadership literature by explaining how local cultural heritage can be institutionalized as a structured, sustainable, and value-oriented component of primary education.