Toward an Integrative Model of Love-Based Curriculum and Pesantren Values for Sustained Character Formation in Madrasah Ibtidaiyah

Character education in madrasah ibtidaiyah (MI) tends to be cognitive and administrative in orientation, without paying attention to the important nurturing relations needed by children. The Love-Based Curriculum (KBC) 2025 invites madrasahs to make love a basis of education, but no study has elaborated relationships between KBC and moral customs of pesantren and the documented curriculum. This study documents love-based practices, explores pesantren values in character education, and develops an integrated model of its sustainability. This study used an instrumental case study method at MI Wathoniyah Putra Pesantren Buntet in Cirebon, West Java, in June–August 2026. Data were obtained from 6 sessions of participant observation, 13 semi-structured interviews with the head of madrasa, three teachers, and nine students of fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, and documentary studies. The analysis combines inductive coding, the concept of sensitization, and abductive synthesis. The findings/the conclusions: (1) there is care (relational) but it wanes as time constraints arise; (2) the values of "pesantren" (sincerity, humility, brotherhood, worship discipline, social responsibility) are actualized in the exemplary conduct and habit to conduct so, but some are just the façade of them; and (3) most of the values are unwritten, and the reliance on the educators and their tradition. The novelty of this study lies in a five-part model (value foundation, love-based learning climate, empathic pedagogy, habituation and role modeling, and formative character assessment) consisting of three stages of implementation that can be associated with data, theory, and abductive reasoning. This model is theoretical and still needs to be tested on other pesantren-based madrasah with similar foundation.