Implementation Spirituality of Saint Therese Lisieux for Character Education at Elementary School Pangaribuan – Barus

Abstract

This research departs from researchers' concerns about the reality of Catholic educational institutions. Catholic schools have the name of a patron but the spirituality of the school's patron has not become its specialty. The main problem is that many Catholic schools have not implemented their protective spiritual values as a basis for implementing character education. In general, character education in Catholic schools is still general in its implementation. The aim of this research is to explore the educational work at St. Theresia Barus in implementing character education, exploring education actors' understanding of these values, and formulating the meaning of implementing character education. The research method is qualitative research. This research was conducted at St. Theresia Barus. The main subjects were fifteen people as representatives of educational actors at St. Theresia Barus. Data collection methods are observation, document study, and interviews. The selection of locations and research subjects was carried out purposively. Data analysis uses Miles and Huberman model analysis, namely data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. Data analysis is carried out interactively and continuously until completion. Analysis was carried out through three processes, namely: data verification, data source triangulation, and technical triangulation. The theoretical framework built is the implementation of integrated character education, helping education actors to understand, believe in, the values of each character. The results of the research illustrate that the education actors at St. Theresia Barus still hasn’t implemented character education to the fullest. So that education practitioners at St. Theresia Barus, implementing character education for students, suggested that schools develop an interdisciplinary integration curriculum in all subjects.