Principal Leadership and Graduate Quality in Agribusiness Vocational Schools Amid Digital Disruption in Papua Pegunungan

Abstract

This study examines the role of the school principal in ensuring graduate quality during the era of digital disruption at a state agribusiness and agrotechnology vocational secondary school in Lanny Jaya Regency, Papua Pegunungan, a frontier, outermost, and disadvantaged (3T) region. Employing a qualitative case study design, data were collected through in-depth interviews, participatory observation, and documentary study involving the school principal, teachers, education personnel, students, and industry partners, selected through purposive sampling. Data were analyzed interactively through data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing, with validity established through source and method triangulation and member checking. The findings indicate that the principal ensures graduate quality through five interrelated strategies: enhancing teacher competence through training and digital-based learning innovation; providing and maintaining facilities and infrastructure aligned with vocational needs; developing an industry-responsive curriculum integrating local content and entrepreneurship; strengthening ongoing academic supervision and learning evaluation; and developing student potential through intracurricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular programs. These strategies collectively enhanced graduates' practical skills, work readiness, creativity, and technological adaptability. The study extends transformational and instructional leadership theory into an underexplored 3T vocational context, showing that leadership adaptability can partially offset persistent infrastructural constraints. Findings contribute theoretically by extending principal leadership models beyond urban and general educational settings, and practically by informing capacity-building and industry-collaboration policy for vocational schools in remote regions.