RELIGIOUS AND CHARACTER EDUCATION FOR ADOLESCENT IDENTITY FORMATION AMID INDONESIA’S EDUCATIONAL CRISIS

Abstract

This study examines how Religious and Character Education (RCE) can meaningfully contribute to adolescent identity formation amid Indonesia’s broader educational challenges now increasingly recognized as part of a wider policrisis affecting society, as highlighted by the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI). Drawing on Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, this research positions adolescence as a key moment for shaping personal, social, and spiritual identity. Based on a 2019 survey of 1,173 students across various public and faith-based high schools in Yogyakarta, the study analyzes how different modes of RCE such as doctrinal, ethical, and identity-based, interact with students’ beliefs, decision-making, and interfaith attitudes. The findings show that while ethical formation and identity development have the strongest positive impact, doctrinal approaches are correlated with exclusive group thinking and negative views toward religious others. These dynamics are especially urgent in light of the PGI’s policrisis framework, where fragmented education, rising intolerance, and identity-based polarization threaten social cohesion. The article argues that a shift toward inclusive, dialogical, and interreligious models of RCE is not only pedagogically sound but morally necessary. Such an approach can equip adolescents with the tools to become empathetic, critical, and resilient citizens in an era marked by complex, overlapping crises.

Keywords: Adolescent identity; religious education; character formation; educational crisis; interreligious pedagogy; policrisis; PGI