Evaluating Lecturer Performance and Psychological Safety in Teacher Professional Education: A Baseline Mixed-Methods Study at Teacher Education in West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

During 2022–2023, Indonesia's Teacher Professional Education Program (PPG) underwent a major curriculum revision toward a competency-based model integrated with a Learning Management System, yet empirical evaluations of lecturer performance within this new framework remain limited. This study assessed PPG lecturers' performance as perceived by pre-service teacher students (PPG Calon Guru) across 13 study programs at a research university in West Java, Indonesia, using a convergent mixed-methods design with a questionnaire adapted for the PPG context. The quantitative component comprised a 20-item ordinal survey (? = .96) completed voluntarily by 259 students (58.6% response rate from 442 students enrolled in six courses), while the qualitative component involved reflexive thematic analysis of open-ended responses from 252 participants. Lecturers received an average performance score of 95.3%, corresponding to a Very Good rating on the instrument's 3-point response scale, applied uniformly across all 20 items. The Assessment dimension scored highest (96.3%), while Learning Implementation scored comparatively lowest (92.5%, still Very Good), with significant differences observed between courses (Kruskal-Wallis H(5) = 19.91, p = .001). Thematic analysis identified four themes: inspiration and role-modelling, interactive and contextual learning, planning and structural challenges, and classroom psychological safety. While PPG lecturers demonstrate strong interpersonal and communication skills across all dimensions, targeted support for instructional media and tools and for classroom psychological safety would still address the two areas of comparatively (though not categorically) lower performance. This assessment serves as a baseline for the first of two semesters.