Principal Leadership In Fostering Learning Innovation Through Learning Communities In A One-Roof School

Principal leadership is widely credited with enabling learning innovation, yet most available evidence comes from adequately resourced schools served by certified master teachers. How innovation is sustained where that support is absent remains unclear. This study examines how a principal enacts leadership to foster learning innovation through a Learning Community (Kombel) at SMP Negeri 2 Bandungan Satu Atap, a one-roof school with limited infrastructure and no certified Guru Penggerak. A qualitative descriptive design was employed within a single bounded setting. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with the principal, the Kombel coordinator, two teachers, and two students; participant observation of weekly Kombel sessions, meetings, and classroom teaching across the 2025/2026 academic year; and document analysis. Credibility was established through source, technique, and time triangulation with peer debriefing, and data were analysed following the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña. The findings indicate that the five leadership functions examined operate as an interdependent configuration rather than as discrete duties. The study suggests that the protective function conditions the other four, and proposes that where structural support is scarce, principal-enacted psychological safety substitutes for it as the mechanism sustaining teacher innovation.