The Islamic Religious Education Teacher as a Living Positive Model: Discipline, Responsibility, and Honesty

Abstract

This study analyses how an Islamic Religious Education teacher enacted the role of a living positive model in developing students’ discipline, responsibility, and honesty, as well as the factors that supported and inhibited its implementation. The study employed a qualitative case study design at SMP Diponegoro Depok, Sleman, Indonesia, in December 2025. Participants consisted of one Islamic Religious Education teacher and five eighth-grade students selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, classroom and school-activity observations, and documentation, then analysed using data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing and verification. The findings show that the teacher embodied the living positive model through punctuality, instructional preparedness, fair treatment, objective assessment, respectful communication, consistent rule enforcement, personal guidance, and religious habituation. These practices supported students’ discipline, responsibility, and honesty, although the internalisation of these values remained uneven. Supporting factors included teacher consistency, structured learning activities, school culture, and positive social relationships, while limited interaction time, differences in self-regulation, peer influence, digital distractions, and inconsistent family reinforcement inhibited the process. The study concludes that teacher modelling becomes more effective when supported by structured practice, reflective guidance, and consistent environmental reinforcement.