Students’ communication patterns of islamic boarding schools: the case of Students in Muallimin Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta

Islamic schools with the concept of boarding school are increasing every year in Indonesia. These schools offer academic education that is integrated with Islamic learning and Islamic character to students. Of course, this integration must be carried out systematically and planned by the school as an education provider through good communication between schools and students. Therefore, this study aim to describe the students’ communication pattern during the implementation of character education in the Islamic Boarding School of Muallimin Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta. Detailed data in this study were obtained directly by conducting two Focus Group Discussions (FGD) on different days and attended by twenty one students from various levels. In addition, the researcher also conducted direct interviews with two teachers separately. This separate interview was conducted to triangulate the validity of the data obtained from the FGD results. The results indicated that (1) the implementation of character education in Muallimin Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta is initiated from the ustadz (teacher) by giving model to the students directly. It is considered as an important aspect since the prophet Muhammad SAW delivered the Islamic religious values through behaviors and models; and (2) the second strength of Muallimin Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta in character education is two-way communication that promoting feelings of sympathy and empathy among students. The close friendship characterizing among the students of Muallimin Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta is a very important factor to generate mutual trust and sense of belonging among the students.