Building Students’ Moral Character through School Culture
Keywords:
School Culture, Moral Character, Student Development, Islamic Education, Educational EthicsAbstract
This study examines the role of school culture in building students’ moral character in secondary education. The study is based on the assumption that moral formation is not produced only by classroom instruction, but also by the daily values, habits, social relations, leadership patterns, teacher role modeling, and disciplinary routines that shape the culture of a school. A quantitative correlational approach was employed, involving 67 students as respondents selected through total sampling. Data were collected using validated questionnaires and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics, including validity testing, reliability testing, simple linear regression, t-test, and coefficient of determination. The findings show that school culture obtained an average score of 3.92, indicating a good and supportive cultural climate for learning and moral development. Students’ moral character formation obtained an average score of 4.09, also in the good category. Regression analysis revealed a positive and significant effect of school culture on students’ moral character formation, with a regression coefficient of 0.629, t-count of 7.376, significance value of 0.000, and determination coefficient of 0.456. These results indicate that 45.6% of students’ moral character formation is influenced by school culture, while 54.4% is affected by other factors. The study confirms that a value-oriented school culture contributes meaningfully to nurturing responsibility, discipline, empathy, respect, and ethical behavior among students.
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