KUDUS — Islamic Wasathiyyah values can help shape students’ prosocial behavior when they are consistently implemented through classroom learning, teacher role modeling, school culture, institutional rules, and character-building programs. This finding comes from a study by Muzdalifah, Ristiana Nisa, and Taufikin of the Postgraduate Program at Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kudus, published in the Journal of Educational Analytics (JEDA), Volume 5, Issue 3, in August 2026. The study highlights the importance of creating an educational environment where tolerance, responsibility, cooperation, and social concern are practiced consistently rather than taught only as theoretical concepts.
The study was conducted in the context of MTs NU Ibtidaul Falah Kudus, Central Java, a madrasah with a diverse student environment that integrates Wasathiyyah values into both academic and extracurricular activities. The researchers examined how values such as justice, balance, tolerance, deliberation, brotherhood, and social responsibility are implemented in everyday school life.
Character Education Goes Beyond the Classroom
Indonesia’s social, cultural, and religious diversity makes character education increasingly important for maintaining harmonious social relationships. These challenges have become more complex in the digital era, as students have broad access to information, including content that may contain intolerance, hate speech, or disrespectful communication.
Within Islamic education, Wasathiyyah represents a principle of moderation that emphasizes justice, balance, tolerance, deliberation, brotherhood, and social concern. These values are not intended to remain as religious knowledge alone but are expected to develop into students’ attitudes and everyday behavior.
The researchers emphasize that prosocial behavior—such as helping others, cooperating, showing empathy, respecting differences, and taking responsibility for the social environment—is one of the visible outcomes of successful character education. Therefore, character development requires the involvement of various elements within the educational environment.
Understanding Students’ and Teachers’ Experiences
The study employed a qualitative phenomenological approach to understand how members of the madrasah community experience and practice Wasathiyyah values. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, participatory observations, and reviews of madrasah documents. Participants included the head of the madrasah, vice principals, Islamic Education teachers, guidance and counseling teachers, subject teachers, and students involved in character-building programs.
Information from different sources was compared to ensure consistency. The researchers then analyzed the data by identifying major themes related to value internalization strategies, supporting and inhibiting factors, and their effects on students’ prosocial behavior.
Five Key Strategies for Building Students’ Character
The findings show that prosocial behavior at MTs NU Ibtidaul Falah is developed through five interconnected strategies.
First, integrating Wasathiyyah values into classroom learning.
Teachers do not simply explain religious values theoretically. They also use group discussions, collaborative learning, problem-solving activities, and dialogue. Students are encouraged to express their opinions respectfully, listen to their peers, and resolve differences through deliberation.
Learning assessments also consider more than academic achievement. Discipline, responsibility, concern for others, cooperation, and respectful communication are also taken into account.
Second, teachers serve as role models.
The study identifies teacher role modeling as the most dominant strategy in the internalization of values. Students can learn more effectively from behaviors they observe every day than from theoretical explanations alone.
Teachers demonstrate discipline, respectful communication, appreciation for students from different backgrounds, and conflict resolution through dialogue. In this process, teachers act not only as educators but also as mentors, motivators, and role models.
Third, school rules and culture support daily habituation.
Character values are reinforced through institutional rules and daily routines. Students are encouraged to greet and shake hands with teachers, queue orderly, maintain cleanliness, and respect teachers and fellow students.
Repeated practices help transform values from abstract concepts into everyday behavior. Rules establish behavioral standards, while habituation helps students gradually internalize those values.
Fourth, school programs provide direct learning experiences.
Programs such as democratic OSIS elections, student organizations, public speaking activities, serving as event hosts, and social activities give students opportunities to practice leadership, responsibility, cooperation, tolerance, and respect for differences.
Through these activities, students do not merely learn character values from books or teachers but experience and practice them directly in social situations.
Fifth, Wasathiyyah values are integrated across subjects and activities.
Values such as tolerance, justice, responsibility, and social concern are not limited to Islamic Education classes. They are also integrated into subjects such as Pancasila and Civic Education, Social Studies, and co-curricular activities.
This approach helps students understand that moderation is not only a religious principle but also an important part of social and civic life.
Student Motivation and Family Support Matter
The success of character education does not depend solely on school programs. The study finds that students’ intrinsic motivation is an important factor. Students who have an internal desire to develop themselves tend to apply Wasathiyyah values more consistently than those who follow rules only when they are being supervised.
Family support also plays a significant role. Values introduced at school are more likely to become part of students’ behavior when parents apply similar habits and provide consistent examples at home. Communication between schools and families helps maintain continuity in character education.
Support from the madrasah leadership, school culture, and character-building programs further strengthens the process. Social activities, student organizations, joint religious activities, and environmental cleanliness programs provide students with practical opportunities to develop social concern and responsibility.
Social Media Creates a New Challenge
The study also identifies students’ external social environments and digital media as challenges to maintaining the values developed at school.
Students encounter various forms of information and communication on social media that may not always align with principles of tolerance and respect. Exposure to hate speech, inappropriate communication, and intolerant content may influence students’ behavior.
Madrasahs respond through guidance, digital literacy, and character education. However, schools have limited control over students’ behavior outside the school environment. This makes family and community involvement increasingly important.
Character Education Requires an Ecosystem
The central finding of the study is that students’ prosocial behavior cannot be developed through a single program or teaching method. Character grows through the interaction of multiple educational elements that reinforce one another.
Muzdalifah, Nisa, and Taufikin propose the Wasathiyyah Islamic Values Internalization Ecosystem Model, which places classroom learning, teacher role modeling, madrasah culture, institutional rules, and habituation programs as five key components in developing students’ character.
Through this ecosystem, Wasathiyyah values move beyond religious concepts and become visible in students’ everyday behavior, including discipline, tolerance, social concern, cooperation, respect for differences, responsibility, and the ability to resolve problems through deliberation.
The findings have implications for Islamic educational institutions and schools more broadly. Strengthening character education requires more than adding values to the curriculum. Schools need to create environments where students can observe, experience, and practice those values consistently.
The researchers recommend strengthening the connection between curriculum, teacher role modeling, school culture, institutional regulations, and character-building programs. Teachers’ capacity to implement value-based learning and religious moderation should also be enhanced. At the same time, stronger cooperation between schools, families, and communities is needed to ensure that values introduced at school continue to be practiced outside the school environment.
About the Authors
- Muzdalifah - Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kudus.
- Ristiana Nisa- Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kudus.
- Taufikin- Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kudus.
Research Source
- Article Title: Strategies for Internalizing Wasathiyyah Islamic Values in Shaping Students’ Prosocial Behavior: A Phenomenological Study at Madrasah Tsanawiyah
- Authors: Muzdalifah, Ristiana Nisa, and Taufikin
- Affiliation: Postgraduate, Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kudus, Indonesia
- Journal: Journal of Educational Analytics (JEDA)
- Volume: 5, Issue 3
- Year: 2026
- Pages: 778–797
- DOI: 10.55927/jeda.v5i3.41
- Official Journal URL: https://journaljeda.my.id/index.php/jeda
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