Kyai Leadership in Supporting Program Quality in a Madrasah-Integrated Islamic Boarding School: A Qualitative Case Study

Abstract

Leadership in madrasah-integrated Islamic boarding schools presents a distinctive challenge because religious authority, formal institutional governance, and daily student mentoring are distributed across different actors. This research examines how kyai leadership is enacted within such a governance structure and how it supports the quality of Islamic Boarding School (IBS) program implementation. A qualitative case study was conducted at IBS Darul Ulum, MAN 1 Kota Semarang, involving ten purposively selected informants representing institutional leadership, program management, mentoring, and student perspectives. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations, and document analysis, and were analyzed using the interactive model of data condensation, data display, and conclusion verification. The findings show that kyai leadership operates primarily through spiritual-pedagogical authority within a differentiated governance structure, while formal policy, program coordination, and daily supervision are undertaken by other institutional actors. Its contribution to program quality occurs through a translation mechanism linking religious direction with program coordination, mentoring, monitoring, assessment, and follow-up across tahfidz, classical Islamic text learning, and student discipline. The findings imply that leadership quality in integrated Islamic education depends less on centralized authority than on the effective institutional translation of religious-pedagogical guidance into coordinated program practices.