HIDDEN CURRICULUM AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF MULTICULTURAL ISLAMIC IDENTITY IN PESANTREN-BASED HIGHER EDUCATION

AN INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND THE HCMII MODEL

Abstract

Indonesia’s cultural diversity presents both opportunities and challenges for Islamic higher education in developing students’ ability to live constructively with differences. In pesantren-based higher education, the hidden curriculum operates through institutional culture, everyday interactions, role modelling, communal living, student organizations, and religious habituation, yet its role in constructing multicultural Islamic identity remains insufficiently explored. This study aims to analyze how the hidden curriculum contributes to the construction of multicultural Islamic identity within a pesantren-based higher education environment and to reconstruct a conceptual model based on students’ lived experiences. A qualitative approach using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was employed at STIKK An-Nur 2 Bululawang. Data were collected through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and documentation involving students, lecturers, institutional leaders, and student organization representatives selected through purposive sampling. The findings reveal five interrelated dimensions of the hidden curriculum: institutional culture, role modelling, communal living, student organizations, and religious habituation. Participants’ experiences of adapting to peers from diverse regional backgrounds, negotiating differences in everyday interactions, listening to differing perspectives, and participating in shared communal and religious practices indicate that multicultural Islamic identity develops through continuous lived experiences rather than through explicit classroom instruction alone. These processes foster respect for diversity, equality, mutual respect, social responsibility, intercultural competence, and an inclusive Islamic orientation. Based on these findings, the study proposes the Hidden Curriculum-Based Multicultural Islamic Identity (HCMII) Model, which conceptualizes multicultural Islamic identity as an emergent outcome of interconnected institutional, social, organizational, and religious practices. The study contributes theoretically by extending hidden curriculum scholarship beyond character formation toward the construction of multicultural Islamic identity and offers practical implications for pesantren-based higher education institutions seeking to strengthen inclusive and socially cohesive Islamic education.