Causes and Barriers of The Teachers’ Digital Competence Gap

1. Insufficient Training and Contextualization 

Soekamto et al. (2022) claim that teachers have not been provided with sufficient trainings especially in rural areas. In addition, trainings often lack contextualization, because they are typically designed for urban and well-resourced environments. Thus, the presence of digital literacy has been consistently somewhat irrelevant for them (Soekamto et al., 2022). This issue is combined with the fast paced of the digital era generating an overload of information and causing previous training to be obsolete. As a result, a lot of Indonesian educators feeling perpetually unprepared.

2. Psychological and Motivational Resistance

Many times, internal factors are the main reasons that impede professional development which are low self-efficacy and a fixed mindset. Some teachers believe digital learning is inherently difficult and beyond their learning capacity (Soepriyanti et al., 2022). The situation subsequently leads to a weakened belief in digital capability and refusal to change the teaching process. This is often reinforced by a teaching over learning mindset where educators perceive their professional obligation as instructional only.

3. Lack of Sustainable-Targeted Learning and Development Support

In many cases, there are barely any targeted learning pathways for teachers in schools. Swanda Tupamahu et al., (2025) highlight that the professional development program in Indonesia frequently uses a blanket approach or one training fits all scheme regardless teachers’ needs and available resources. Consequently, teachers usually have a systemic lack of clear targets resulting in confusion about what digital skills to acquire and how to align them with their specific instructional needs. Moreover, a lot of teachers have very limited ongoing support to refine their skills and ensure better teaching practice (Swanda Tupamahu et al., 2025). Without collaborative frameworks, therefore, many educators struggle to accurately reflect on their practice and identify specific pedagogical issues that digital tools could address.

PLCs as Strategy to Bridge the Digital Competence Gap

 1.     The Concept of The Professional Learning Community

Professional learning community can be described as a group of educators that specifically engage in learning targeted competence by identifying problems that are relevant to their local context and working collaboratively to solve them (Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2017). This collaborative professional learning is not considered incidental but is recognized as a lifelong learning aimed at fostering a dynamic teaching and learning environment that yields higher quality academic and non-academic outcomes for students.

2.     Benefits and Impacts of The Professional Learning Community

 a.     Shifting to Contextualization

Regarding contextualization issues, Ali et al. found that designing learning by integrating real-life context within the subject matter is very challenging for teachers (2024). Their study also showed that teachers found it hard to create contextual assessment which then made this issue complex and multidimensional (Ali et al., 2024). However, Dana & Yendol-Hoppey (2017) suggest that the PLC model can transform professional learning by focusing on the teachers’ contextual and relevant issues. Hence the emphasis is on the development within the community. This is very important as Clark et al. (2023) stated that if teachers recognize its relevance to their teaching and learning process, they are likely to engage more in the meetings.

b. Enhancing Self and Collective Efficacy

Zheng et al., (2021) argue that when teachers participate more in PLC meetings, it could decrease their self-efficacy. They also found that observable teaching practice and collective responsibility have minimal effect on the learning outcomes (Zheng et al., 2021). Nevertheless, Vičič Krabonja et al. (2024) convey that the involvement of teachers in learning contemporary pedagogy and digital tools collaboratively within the PLC is not only improving self-efficacy but also collective efficacy. For example, teachers might be empowered to try new digital tools with a low stake impact such as using Wayground app for daily assessment. Afterwards, they might receive immediate validation by sharing their small achievements in their PLC. This positive reinforcement can boost their confidence in order to attempt more complex technology integration.

c.  Developing Psychological Support and Growth Mindset

Concerning psychological support, Qu et al. (2024) stated that teachers were often afraid sharing their opinions in PLCs meetings because of the strict management of their principals. However, many studies showed that PLCs can potentially establish a safe and sustainable environment necessary for teachers. Meesuk et al. (2021)  stated that shared values and norms are the early steps of sustainable PLC. Hence, PLC redefines problems including those related to digital competence not as personal weakness but as essential data for collaborative analysis. This healthy environment is crucial for teachers to admit their digital challenges and proactively ask for help without the fear of embarrassment. In addition, PLC provides emotional and professional scaffolding needed for teachers to shift their paradigm from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset by consistent peer coaching, mentorship, and collaboration. Vičič Krabonja et al. (2024) also suggest that the culture of collaboration among educators is essential for educational transformation.

The implementation of Professional Learning Communities

In order to be an effective PLC, the implementation of the model needs to address the three identified causes and barriers simultaneously through a systemic community approach.

 1.     Designing Targeted Teacher Training Programs within the PLC

The PLC model can overcome the inherent flaws of traditional and generic professional development by possibly ensuring all learning is relevant, continuous, and student-oriented.

a. Focusing on Contextual Needs

A lot of traditional trainings tend to fail due to their irrelevance from Indonesian classrooms’ unique ecosystems such as students, culture, and school infrastructure. Clark et al. (2023) added that the transfer of new knowledge through traditional training in such a limited time from the expert to the teachers is somewhat difficult to internalize, thus, rarely to be implemented. The PLC may solve this by demanding that learning should be driven by student collected data. Teachers could begin by analyzing collective assessment results to identify shared pedagogical issues. Afterwards, the PLC meeting may focus on selecting and mastering a specific digital tool that can work within the school's available resources in addressing the identified issues. This could ensure that every minute spent on digital upskilling is highly relevant and contributes directly to improving their students’ outcomes.

b. Building Digital Mastery

The digital mastery among teachers can potentially be achieved through designing lessons and strategies with digital tools collaboratively. The teachers also might attempt to implement them in a low-stakes environment and analyze the student data for group discussion. This provides repeated practices that can be powerful sources of self-efficacy among others. As a result, PLC is not only supporting to refine digital teaching strategy but also strengthening culture of ongoing learning (Vičič Krabonja et al., 2024). When teachers observe direct evidence that their new digital skills improve students' quality, the belief in their capacity are more likely to grow and eventually lead to improvement on their digital mastery.

c.  Strengthening Peer Coaching and Reciprocal Training

Vičič Krabonja et al.,  (2024) imply that in PLC, teachers could support each other’s growth by sharing their best practice and discussing challenges. This is very crucial because witnessing a colleague overcome similar challenges could drastically lower anxiety and boost motivation among struggling teachers.

2.     Establishing a Digital Team in a PLC

Effective digital adoption might be unsustainable without strong support to combat isolation and technical frustration in the implementation of digital learning.

a. Forming the Digital Leadership Team

The PLC model can feed upwards into a digital leadership team which typically comprises of principal and designated digital trainers selected among teachers in a school. This is very essential as the principal leadership plays a central position in directing schools through digital transformation (Rasdiana et al., 2024). This team ensures structural and technical support by allocating specific time for PLC digital agendas and trains other teachers regularly. In addition, according to Vičič Krabonja et al. (2024), educators with such competence could empower other teachers and lead digital transformation to improve both the school quality and the achievement of the students.

b. Emphasizing First Line Support through Scaffolding

The digital team provides fast technical support to other teachers in their own PLCs. This team may apply scaffolding technique by offering immediate assistance such as helping a colleague recall how to format a digital assessment, then gradually withdrawing the support as the teacher gains competence (Saul McLeod, 2025). This process is crucial for nurturing independent learners and preventing teachers especially those in rural areas from abandoning new tools due to minor technical friction.

Conclusion

The professional learning community might be the necessary systemic solution to address the significant digital competence gap among educators in Indonesia which is rooted in flawed, generic training and deep-seated psychological resistance. The PLC framework is built on continuous learning, collaboration, and progress orientation which could effectively bridge the gap. Furthermore, effective PLC potentially have three synchronized mechanisms which are contextualized and targeted training, digital leadership team and self and collective efficacy. Finally, the PLC is more than a professional development model for teachers. It is an effective organizational strategy that shifts the focus from a general training to a relevant, contextual, and supported practice. The PLCs are likely to empower Indonesian educators to become confident digital practitioners, thus ensuring the nation's education quality can meet the demands for the golden Indonesia 2045.

Recommendations

1. The central and local governments should provide special training for digital teams in order to gain a good understanding of their role.

2. There should be direct campaigns for all principals as leaders of schools on the urgency of Professional Learning Communities.

3. Principals should give more credits and rewards for digital team members in helping teachers.

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