From Love Ethics to Implementation Readiness: A Mixed Methods Model of Islamic Religious Education Teacher Agency in the Love Curriculum

Abstract

The Love Curriculum places relationships, mercy, empathy, moderation, and psychosocial safety as the operational pedagogical foundation of Islamic Religious Education (PAI) teachers, but its transformation into classroom practice still requires an implementation readiness framework that can be tested and explained empirically. This study examines the influence of pedagogical understanding of the Love Curriculum, institutional support, and pedagogical efficacy on PAI teachers' implementation readiness, and explains how teachers interpret, negotiate, and translate this policy in teaching and learning. The design used was a sequential explanatory mixed methods design with a survey of 286 PAI teachers and qualitative follow-up through interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis involving 24 teachers. Quantitative data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), while qualitative data were analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis. The results showed that pedagogical understanding was the strongest predictor of implementation readiness (β = .42; p < .001), followed by institutional support (β = .31; p < .001) and pedagogical efficacy (β = .24; p = .002), with R² implementation readiness of .61, Q² of .43, and SRMR of .052. Qualitative findings showed that teachers interpreted the Love Curriculum as a relational ethic that requires disciplinary boundaries, operational policy language, and school community support. The contribution of this study lies in an integrative model that links the love-oriented policy, teacher agency, and the implementation readiness in PAI. The implication is that teacher training needs to move from normative socialization to evidence-based pedagogical assistance, reflection, and observable classroom practice.