Nurturing Critical Consciousness through Faith: Integrating Fitrah-Based Education in the Transformation of Islamic Early Childhood Education
Ferdiana, Ajeng. (2025). Nurturing Critical Consciousness through Faith: Integrating Fitrah-Based Education in the Transformation of Islamic Early Childhood Education. SEA-CECCEP. 6. 162-175. 10.70896/seaceccep.v6i01.114.
Abstract
Early childhood Islamic education is important because it influences children’s spirituality, character, and worldview. However, in practice, many early childhood education institutions in Islamic countries are still oriented towards a memorization and dogmatic approach, which provides little space for the development of children’s critical thinking from an early age. This article aims to examine the integration of a fitrah-based education approach in transforming early childhood Islamic education, with a focus on its potential to foster critical awareness rooted in faith. This study employs a qualitative method, drawing on literature reviews, a case study, and interviews with the management and a teacher of the BATAS Study. This early childhood education institution implements a fitrah-based education approach. The results of the study show that education based on fitrah can encourage children to think reflectively, understand values contextually, and internalize Islamic spirituality meaningfully. The main challenges include changing the role of teachers from being full authorities in learning to facilitators and nurturers of the child’s maximum potential. The BATAS Study offers a real-life example of how integrating faith, freedom of thought, and emotional guidance can shape children into independent, empathetic, and socially aware individuals. This article recommends a more transformative and dialogical approach to Islamic education, one that humanizes children from an early age, aligning with their inherent nature.
Learning Design and Technologies
This course introduces the basic principles of learning, instruction and curriculum design and guide students to be able to develop materials to support teaching and learning within the educational context. This course will be focus on the application and evaluation of technologies
and multimedia in the development of materials design and production
Educational Policy Analysis
This course is part of the program concentration for the Master of Arts in Education at Indonesian International Islamic University. It gives the student the opportunity to have a clear understanding of how policy formulates and develops in the context of a formal education setting, how policy works in education, how to analyze educational policies, and identification of who are the key interest groups and players are in the making of educational policy. The course is designed for students who likely seek to become policy analysts, researchers, or leaders in educational setting.
Education and Society
This course examines the relationships of education and society with the use of interdisciplinary approaches, since education as a discipline spans the life course and happens in many contexts within society along with its social and political dynamics. This course offers students both theoretical overview and empirical observation on how education shapes societal development and social progress by addressing various essential issues e.g. how education creates good citizens and fosters good society, how education applies in diverse cultures of a society, how education promotes social mobility and alleviates poverty, the creation of middle-class groups, economic development and individual’s income, private and social benefits of education, how education promotes political
democracy, and others.
The course sessions will also address some specific questions, among others: How should educational institutions be developed in order to play a role in making progress, improving welfare, social cohesion, social justice, and gender equality? Why do certain educational institutions with certain orientation grow and become mainstream in a society, whereas others decline or even be marginalized? The course also observes education and society by taking comparative studies in the contexts of Asian, African, and several Western countries. Given the increasing importance of the Muslim community in recent times, the course also examines a number of case studies of education in Muslim societies or in Muslim-majority countries. As the global communities have a great deal of attention for decades to education focusing on developing countries, this course will also address the role of the international agencies e.g. UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, the World Bank in promoting quality education for a country’s development. The main focus of this part is on the important role of international development partners in promoting quality education for the betterment of a nation. The course will be enriched with cross-subject analyses through the lenses of anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, and history.
Educational Research Methodology
The goal of the Educational Research Methodology course is to introduce graduate students to educational research, its philosophical underpinnings, paradigms, and major instantiations. Students will engage with the major questions of education research, and the methods that researchers have used to tackle these questions. The course includes an introduction to qualitative and quantitative research methods as well as other research approaches, in addition to the policies and regulations associated with conducting research with human subjects.
Comparative Philosophy of Education
This course is designed to guide students to comprehend and critically analyze different philosophical thoughts, theories and traditions of education in different cultures. Students will have the opportunity to learn, explore, and compare educational philosophy and traditions of the Western, Eastern and Islamic societies. Students will explore major philosophical schools of Western education, such as perennialism, Idealism, Essentialism, and progressivism, as well as Eastern philosophy of education such as Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian philosophies and traditions. More importantly students will explore Islamic philosophy and traditions of education. This course will be delivered through various means of teaching and learning, including lecture, article review, curriculum project, presentation and discussion.
Psychology in Education
This course is a core subject in a master’s program in the Faculty of Education, of Indonesian International Islamic University. This course aims to equip students with theories and concepts about the growth and development of children, learning theories from the perspective of behaviorist, cognitive, and humanistic, the factors that affect learning (intelligence, motivation, emotions, interests, talents), a taxonomy of learning outcomes, theory of memory, learning progress monitoring, education for gifted children, education for children with special needs, early childhood education, parenting styles, learning difficulties and current issues in educational psychology. Through this course participation, students are expected to write the resume of the course topics, to perform case studies analysis, and to present literature review in the area of educational psychology. The level of students’ learning success is assessed from the level of mastery as demonstrated in the assessment of learning outcomes, which include the ability to apply knowledge as reflected in the quality of individual assignments and in class active participation.
Educational Research Methodology
The goal of the Educational Research Methodology course is to introduce graduate students to educational research, its philosophical underpinnings, paradigms, and major instantiations. Students will engage with the major questions of education research, and the methods that researchers have used to tackle these questions. The course includes an introduction to qualitative and quantitative research methods as well as other research approaches, in addition to the policies and regulations associated with conducting research with human subjects.
Wasathiyatul Islam in a Globalized World
In this course, students learn various concepts and practices of wasatiyyat Islam as introduced by scholars and practiced within Indonesian societies. Students are trained to become familiar with wasatiyyat conceptually from the Qur’an, Hadis, and contemporary Islamic thinkers, as well as experiences in Indonesia and other Muslim countries as exposed and managed by civil society exponents and the state. At the end of the lecture, students are expected to have in-depth knowledge of various concepts and their socio-religious and political use by state and non-state actors nationally and globally to respond to a globalized society challenged by the ramifications of violent extremism. The teaching method includes lectures, presentations, discussions, and assignments (paper writing), all summarized in class seminar activities.
