A Religious based Education Concept for Good Personality Development in a Crisis: The Case of Improving Indonesian Students Morals and Character

Abstract

This study aimed to establish a religious based education concept for the improvement of personality of
the students through the education system in Indonesia. Due to the fact that in this rapidly changing
world, society faces challenges regarding behavior and personality. The changing world has led to
negative values, norms, and attitudes caused by advancement in techno-logical values of most nations,
including Indonesia leading to erosion of collective morals within the young people. Hence, there is need
for learner guidance to help develop good morals as one way to achieve the purpose of education. In
this regard, the present study aims to produce a religious guidance model to improve student morality.
The study went through procedures which included literature review, needs assessment, content
validation from the expert and empiric validation from the university counsellor of the initial model. The
method of research and development has been applied. The results of the study have revealed that: a
religious based education concept is an important tool in moral development and character building of
the students; developing a clear concept such as this religious based concept requires clear steps which
must comprise of the primary concept and secondary concepts; and the improved religious based
education concept is appropriate according to the expert’s perspective and the practitioners in
developing students morals and character, since it meets the requirements of the feasibility study, thus it
is recommended for implementation at a wider scale where necessary.