Integrating traditional-modern education in madrasa to promote competitive graduates in the globalization era

AbstractThe dichotomy of education still exists in the last decade in Indonesia; meanwhile, education must prepare ideal human beings for the nation’s future. This study aims to explore and examine the improvement of Madrasas by integrating traditionalism-modernism in Indonesia to produce competitive graduates. Through document reviews, interviews, observations in data collection, and descriptive-interpretive methods in data analysis, this qualitative study found that the quality of Madrasa can be achieved by integrating traditionalism-modernism in Madrasa, especially in the aspects of the curriculum and teaching-learning process. In a curriculum aspect, madrasas implement the integrated madrasah-pesantren curriculum intensively; in a teaching-learning part, madrasas apply a discovery learning approach. The competitiveness and excellence of madrasa graduates are formed by the integration of traditionalism-modernism education through an integrated curriculum and discovery learning approach in the teaching-learning process. Through these aspects, madrasas can promote graduates’ quality. This study was limited to a small sample, limited cases involving only a few informants, and determined to five sites. Further studies to accommodate samples, cases, groups of informants, and broader educational institutions need to be carried out. It also needs a comparative approach among sites to gain an in-depth understanding of the topic.