The Role of School Culture in Strengthening Student Discipline and Responsibility

Abstract

This study examined how school culture was implemented and how it contributed to student discipline and responsibility at MA Nurul Hidayah NW Bakong Dasan. A qualitative case study was conducted during April and May 2026. Data were collected through observation, documentation, and structured interviews with 12 purposively selected informants comprising school leaders, teachers, and students. Credibility was strengthened through source, technique, and time triangulation, while analysis followed the Miles and Huberman stages of data collection, reduction, display, and verification. School culture was enacted through daily and weekly routines, including Dhuha and congregational prayers, Qur’an recitation, collective prayer at 07:00 WITA, five-minute student speeches, greeting practices, Friday faith activities, classroom duties, literacy, and Scouting. Repeated routines, teacher modeling, supervision, curricular integration, and peer coordination encouraged punctuality, neatness, rule compliance, worship habits, leadership, and completion of assigned tasks. However, independent responsibility for classroom cleanliness remained uneven. Enabling conditions included committed leadership, teacher cooperation, peer support, a supportive environment, and adequate basic facilities. Constraints included student reluctance and low confidence, limited parental engagement, weak foundation support, and negative influences outside school. Sustainable character formation requires consistent modeling, reflective participation, family-school collaboration, and gradual movement from supervised compliance toward self-regulation