This research was conditioned by the existence of several interesting phenomena of the Modern Islamic Boarding School Islam Assalaam (PPMI) in Surakarta. Several phenomena including: the increase in the number of the student’s candidates that registered, the variety of the student, as well as the variety and his service of the educational unit who were given to the students of the regional origin.
The main problem that was answered by this research covering two matters: (1) Is the Modern curriculum of Islamic Boarding School Assalaam contained the multicultural messages and the normative values of the civil society? (2) How the activity of learning-teaching that was developed by the teachers in the Assalaam Islamic school was seen from the multicultural and the civil society perspective? The assumption that was used in this research was that the curriculum and the process of the activity of learning-teaching in PPMI Assalaam paid attention to the diversity of the regional origin of the student, so as to contain the multicultural centipede and the normative values of the civil society.
This assumption was based on two matters, those are: (1) it was said that the word ”al-salam” that was made the name for this Islamic school contained the meaning of peace, so as to be suspected this really colored curriculum contain and the process of the activity of learning-teaching; (2) that Islamic school had the principle of ”beyond all the groups and did not take sides with particular group.”
The main aim of this research was: (1) studying the multicultural messages and normative components of the civil society that was met in the concept, subject matter, and the subject of discussion in the curriculum in the Assalaam Islamic school; (2) studying the process of the activity of learning-teaching that was carried out by the teachers with the multicultural and the civil society perspective.
With the achievement of the two aims above, results of this research could it was hoped be useful for the development of multicultural-Islamic education in Indonesia, especially in the Islamic school agency. The multicultural-Islamic educational model could be made one of the instruments for the interaction creation that was constructive and harmonious between various ethnic groups and the religions in Indonesia, in order to bring about the civil society. Academically, this research could it was hoped become the reference material for the scientists and the other researcher in connection with multicultural-Islamic education.
This research took the location in PPMI Assalaam in Surakarta, with the subject and the research informant were the director, the heads of the educational unit like MTs (junior high school), MA (senior high school), and SMK (training high school), the teachers and the students. The research was carried out by the content-analysis and qualitative approaches. The data collection was carried out technically by participation observation, in-depth interview and documentation.
Participant observation used to gather the data that was related to the student’s learning activity and the process of learning-teaching that was carried out by the teachers, both in the class and out of the class. In-depth interview was used to collect the data relating to the history of the Islamic school and its development as well as the reason for the place selection and the method of learning-teaching process that was carried out by the teachers. The documentation was used to gather the data that was related to the history of Assalaam and its development, the situation and the dynamics of learning-teaching process, the data of student and teacher, the text book, the syllabus, and the of learning-teaching agenda unit that were compiled by the teachers. The data was analyzed by the descriptive-interpretive technique.
This research produced two important findings. The first was that the phenomenon of the diversity of the background of the student—especially their regional origin, gender, and psychological character—in the modern Islam Islamic boarding school of Assalaam, Surakarta, was some sunnatullah that must be managed by the agency of Islamic school through its curriculum.
To carry out the diversity of these students, the Assalaam Islamic school developed the pesantren curriculum and the school curriculum that in the certain level carried the multicultural values and normative components of the civil society. Multicultural values and normative components of the civil society that were developed in Assalaam covered: the appreciation to the peer, togetherness, and the opened attitude among the students. The values mentioned above could be the guidance for avoiding conflict, violence, discrimination, prejudice, and stereotype among the students.
The second was that the process of the learning-teaching activity in the Assalaam Islamic school seen from the multicultural and the civil society perspective evidently contained the multicultural values and normative components of the civil society. From the aspect of place of learning-teaching, the teachers used heterogeneous the place for its activity such as: classroom, school garden or under tree that was shady out of the class, laboratory, library, and mosque.
From the aspect of method, the teachers used various learning-teaching strategies such as: speech, group’s discussions, asking and answering, and assignment. The various utilizing places and learning-teaching methods had implications in the atmosphere of learning-teaching activity that was pleasant, democratic, and participative. This atmosphere was created because of the existence of mutual-respect, mutual-recognition, and mutual-understanding among the students.
The two findings above related to the founding father’s point of view, conviction, and mindset of the Assalaam Islamic school. This could be seen from the aspect of the name and the aspect of the principle that was developed to manage the the school. From the aspect of the name, they used words ”al-salam” that was significantly peaceful was contained by the intention that they saw the importance of peace in societal, and national life. In their perspective, the peace could be achieved through educational agency, that is the Islamic boarding school.
From the aspect of the principle, they developed the principle ”beyond all the groups and did not take sides with particular group”. This principle could be interpreted as one of their methods of developing the Islamic school, which could produce the generations who has open mindedness and could communicate with other Islamic organizations in Indonesia. Therefore, the Assalaam Islamic school to some extend could be as the model of multicultural education and civil society in Indonesia.
Researchers: Abdullah Aly, M. A. Fattah Santoso, Zakiyuddin Baidhawy