Transformative Islamic Education in Building Students' Character at SMPIT Raudlatul Jannah Blangkejeren, Gayo Lues, Aceh

Marwan Marwan

doi:10.54604/tdb.v17i1.512

Authors

Marwan Marwan SDIT Global Asri

https://doi.org/10.54604/tdb.v17i1.512

Abstract

Character erosion among adolescents has intensified amid rapid digitalization and value pluralism, prompting renewed scholarly attention to education models that integrate spiritual, moral, and cognitive development. Although Islamic integrated schools (SIT) have proliferated across Indonesia, empirical evidence on how transformative pedagogy operationalizes character formation in peripheral, culturally distinctive regions remain scarce. This study examines how transformative Islamic education is enacted to build students' character at SMPIT Raudlatul Jannah in Blangkejeren, Gayo Lues, a highland Gayo community in Aceh governed by Islamic law. Employing a qualitative single-case design, data were gathered through in-depth interviews with fifteen participants (school leaders, teachers, students, and parents), non-participant classroom observation, and document analysis over four months. Data were analyzed thematically using the Braun and Clarke framework with NVivo 14, and trustworthiness was established through triangulation, member checking, and an audit trail. Findings reveal that character formation emerged through four interwoven mechanisms: prophetic exemplification (uswah), habituation of worship-integrated routines, dialogic value internalization, and school–family–community synergy anchored in local Gayo Islamic norms. Transformation occurred not through content transmission but through relational modelling and reflective habituation that repositioned students as moral agents. The study advances transformative learning theory by extending it to a faith-based, non-Western adolescent setting and demonstrates that character education is most durable when institutional structures, pedagogical intent, and cultural ecology are aligned. Practically, the findings offer a replicable, context-sensitive framework for integrated Islamic schools operating in culturally embedded peripheries.

Keywords:

transformative education, Islamic education, character building, integrated Islamic school, qualitative case study, Gayo Lues, moral development

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