Implementing the Multicultural Education Curriculum

Perspectives of Prospective Islamic Religious Education Teachers at STIT Al-Washliyah Binjai

Abstract

Social diversity requires prospective Islamic Religious Education (PAI) teachers not only to possess strong religious knowledge but also to develop the pedagogical competence needed to manage differences in an inclusive and equitable manner. However, religious moderation education often remains limited to the transmission of normative concepts and has not fully explained how moderation values are internalized through learning experiences. This study aims to analyze the implementation of the Multicultural Education curriculum in developing religious moderation values among prospective PAI teachers at STIT Al-Washliyah Binjai. The study employed a qualitative method, with lecturers and students serving as the primary data sources. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation and were analyzed through the stages of data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The findings indicate that the internalization of religious moderation emerges through the interconnection between value integration within the curriculum and contextual learning experiences conducted both inside and outside the classroom. From the students’ perspectives, the Multicultural Education course fostered four prominent values: pro-existence tolerance, tawassuth, tasamuh, and i'tidal. These findings demonstrate that religious moderation becomes more substantive when students move beyond a cognitive understanding of diversity and begin to experience, reflect on, and translate it into social attitudes and practices. The study implies that Multicultural Education contributes to the development of pedagogical competence grounded in religious moderation values, thereby supporting the formation of moderate professional identities among prospective PAI teachers.