Character education in Indonesia: How is it internalized and implemented in virtual learning?

This study investigates teachers' internalization and implementation of character education in schools. This research employed a mixed-method that combines quantitative and qualitative methods. The research data was obtained by distributing questionnaires to 576 elementary school, junior high school, and high school teachers who participated in the e-workshop on developing the competence of character values internalization. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed to know the internalization and implementation of character education carried out by teachers. The results show that teachers implement character education through habituation, integration, and imitation. Teachers have difficulty internalizing and implementing character values when learning is implemented virtually. This problem occurs because teachers are accustomed to having face-to-face interaction with students when implementing character education in schools. This condition has recently become an obstacle in implementing character education because learning is carried out virtually. The research helps implement virtual learning to develop character values.


INTRODUCTION
Character education has been implemented in face-to-face school meetings (Ammatulloh et al., 2022;Fahrannisa et al., 2022;Garad et al., 2021;Haryati et al., 2021;Riyanto et al., 2022).Meanwhile, during the Covid-19 period, learning is shifted to virtual-based learning (Sangsawang, 2020).This change causes many obstacles in the implementation of character education.Character values instilled through a role model by the teacher is difficult to realize in virtual learning since face-to-face meeting does not occur (Khadijah et al., 2021).Internalizing character values in virtual learning must receive serious attention (Bugarso et al., 2021;Ekunola et al., 2022;Firdiarahma, 2021;Rasim et al., 2021) because it impacts the inculcation of character values (Jerome & Kisby, 2020).Therefore, the teacher's ability to internalize character values becomes an indicator of the success of character education in schools (Dishon & Goodman, 2017;Ülger et al., 2014).Character education is not a particular subject given to students meaning that character education can be present in every school lesson (Ciampa & Wolfe, 2021;Kibble, 1998).Character education is essential to develop morality, so it must be realized in every lesson at school (Ozdilek & Oncu, 2014;Pike et al., 2021).
Character education becomes fundamental because more students behave immorally and unethically.Also, students do not have freedom in thinking (Darling-Hammond et al., 2020;Kristjánsson, 2020;Sahlan, 2014;Saidek et al., 2016).It seems that this problem is faced not only by Indonesia but also other countries.Dempster (2020) conducted a study on crimes committed by students and youth in general.The study was conducted in Jamaica, a developing country like Indonesia today.Based on his research, the strategy to reduce the number of crimes committed by students includes strengthening character education through moral and religious values continuously rather than giving punishments that may give a deterrent effect.Punishment is not an effective solution.A fundamental problem for youth in various countries is excessive selfactualization which is not based on moral principles accepted in social life.
Well-programmed teaching of moral values can be a solution to change students' behavior and character (Meindl et al., 2018).Meindl et al. explain that schools that promote character education can positively contribute to the students' moral development.In addition, Meindl et al. state that moral values teaching should be conducted by considering some aspects; namely, character education is given indirectly; teachers should provide the virtues and the moral values packaged in school programs.Curren (2017) explains that schools are a supportive environment to shape and develop students' character.Furthermore, character education should be given based on student development to produce positive progress.
Teaching moral-character values is a problem-solver for the student's moral decadence (Hand, 2014;Hermino & Arifin, 2020;Peterson, 2020;Rokhman et al., 2014).Therefore, it is necessary to explain how character education is implemented in learning, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, where learning is carried out virtually.The research aims to describe the internalization and implementation of character education carried out by teachers in schools.This research utilized a mixed method by distributing questionnaires to teachers.This research has several novelties: 1) how to implement character values within the scope of virtual learning, and 2) how to implement character values in non-academic concepts.This novelty will be helpful as a guide for implementing character values in the face-to-face and virtual learning environment.

METHOD
This research employed mixed methods, combining qualitative and quantitative methods.This study's primary data were obtained by distributing questionnaires to teachers who participated in the e-workshop on developing the ability to internalize character values on July 14-17, 2021, via the zoom meeting.Five hundred seventy-six elementary and high school teachers participated in the e-workshop and were asked to fill out the questionnaire.Questionnaires questions deal with the internalization of character values and the implementation of character education carried out by teachers.In addition, the questions were divided into two categories of answers, namely closed and open answers.Closed-answer questions investigated teachers' knowledge in the internalization of character values, while open-answer questions examined the implementation of character education in schools.
Secondary data for the research were obtained by reviewing articles on the implementation of character education published an international reputation publication outlet.The articles reviewed in this study as secondary data discussed moral virtues, moral education, character education, and values education.The article analysis aimed to find an effective way of implementing character education in schools.The examination of the articles was specifically aimed to know: 1) the media used to convey character education; 2) the method used in implementing character education; and 3) the process of internalizing character values.The data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed in several stages as follows.
The open-answer categories given by the teachers were investigated and reviewed first.Then, the answers were grouped based on the similarity of the ideas expressed.Next, the categorized data were described and analyzed to know the internalization of character values in learning and the teachers' implementation of character education at schools.The internalization of character values and character education obtained through data analysis were then linked and examined against character education theories and the results of previous research.This aimed to determine the suitability of the implementation in the field with the theory and to describe the teacher's ability.
The discussion section explained the internalization of character values in learning based on the supporting theories to describe the ideal internalization process.Then, the researchers developed a concept of implementing character education in virtual learning.The developed concept is based on research results, data analysis, previous studies, and supporting theories.

Finding
Based on the analyzed data, teachers have different opinions about the internalization and implementation of character values in the classroom.The data in Table 1 show that teachers have different responses on the questions of internalizing character values in learning (see numbers 1-6).This difference reponse shows that many teachers must be given the understanding of internalizing character values in the learning process.Internalizing character values in teaching materials and learning processes is not difficult to realize.In Indonesia, character education is not a subject explicitly studied by students in the classroom.Therefore, the internalization of character values in learning can be carried out by all teachers from various disciplines.
Character education does not require special teaching materials because principally character values can be implicitly included in learning through examples that can be interpreted by students (Hand, 2014;Jerome & Kisby, 2020;Ülger et al., 2014).Thus, character education does not rely on direct instruction from the teachers.Character values can be integrated and united into the teaching materials prepared by the teachers.The students learn to find these values through their assessment and understanding of the concept of value.Hart et al. (2020) argue that the teacher used a novel to deliver character education to the students.The teacher integrated the Narnian novel into the learning materials given to students.The novel contains lots of character values that are beneficial for the students.The teachers did not explain the character values, but the students learned to find the values by themselves with their knowledge.Hidayati et al. (2020) researched the local wisdom of the Samin community, Indonesia.Moral wisdom was then adopted by the community and integrated into learning.Moreover, Halimah et al. (2020) research found as follows: (1) character education can be conveyed to students through fairy tales using wayang golek (puppet show) as a medium; (2) wayang golek can teach and train students to have good interaction inside and outside the classroom; and (3) wayang golek can make students understand how to apply good character in everyday life in their society.Wayang Golek (puppet show) provides meaningful learning and can entertain students.In addition, by using wayang golek the teacher also introduced the country's cultural heritage as wayang golek is one of the Indonesian cultural artifacts.Therefore, using wayang golek in conveying character values is very appropriate.Based on this explanation, character values can be conveyed by teachers in learning by utilizing learning media.
The teachers also have different responses in the character value evaluation questions (see numbers 7 and 8).The evaluation carried out to assess character education is indeed a serious problem.Many people are tricked into evaluating character education using a cognitive evaluation format.This is certainly a mistake in the evaluation process as we assess the affective aspects using a cognitive format (test questions).Teachers' evaluation to see the development of students' character uses a continuous checklist that refers to achievement indicators.This can be done with the cooperation of various parties in students' lives, including families, as students' moral understanding is realized more in the family and social environment.The synergy of every element of society (school, family, and environment) determines character education's success (Pike et al., 2021).
The teacher and the students' environment significantly determine the moral development of the students, as revealed by Anam et al. (2019) research.They explain that the educator's character becomes an essential element as students imitate it.They conducted research in pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) and found that the tutors, Ustadz, (Islamic religion teachers), and Kiai (the seniors and leaders of the Islamic boarding schools) reflect humanity's goodness who have religious stability.They reported that the education model in pesantren includes three aspects, namely: 1) setting habituation program through controlled pesantren activities; 2) giving intensive mentoring and, 3) providing a role model in every activity.Controlled activities in Islamic boarding schools significantly facilitate the success of character education.This is related to the answers to questions number 9 and 10; the school environment and the community are essential in forming student character.
The teacher's ability to internalize character values impacts the implementation of character education in schools.The data on the implementation of character education carried out by teachers describe the character education model in schools.Data from the questionnaire regarding the implementation of character education conducted by teachers in schools are presented in Table 2.
Table 2 shows that question number 11 produces four groups of answers: 1) habituation programs in schools; 2) modeling from the teacher; 3) integration in learning; 4) the synergy of family, school, and environment.The answer groups based on the theory of character education implementation include 1) habituation, 2) integration and 3) imitation (Revell & Arthur, 2007).These three concepts will produce wisdom knowledge.The theory and the answers given by the teacher show the significant difference; the theory requires the three aspects of character education (habituation, integration, imitation) to be actively applied by schools so that they can provide good moral understanding to the students (Darling-Hammond et al., 2020).Also, table 2 shows that the teachers only use one of the three aspects of character education.The three aspects must be implemented and controlled in schools simultaneously.Schools should have a controlled program of good values habituation, character values integration into the learning process, and the school environment, which serve as a good moral role model for students.These imitation aspects will be better if they are supported by students' families and social environment.
The application of character education in every school must have its obstacles.There is an interesting thing in the answer given by the teacher (see answer number 12), namely, the majority of teachers complain that the student's social environment is the main obstacle in the success of character education.This happens because schools often forget that for the success of character education programs, many elements are involved and must be educated, including the family and the community (Biesta, 2021;Narvaez, 2020).Schools often focus on improving students' abilities, but rarely maximize the potential of the environment for successful character education.
The Covid-19 pandemic is the second obstacle in teaching and learning (Estrellan et al., 2021).The teachers' difficulty indicates that they do not comprehensively understand the process of internalizing character values; they take it as a problem for them to implement character education when learning takes place virtually (see table data 1).If they understood better the process and the internalization of character values, they would not take the virtual learning process as an obstacle for them to implement character education.
Answers to questions No. 12 and 13 are related to each other.When the students' social environment becomes the main obstacle in implementing character education, teachers desire the schools and families to cooperate to support the success of the character education programs considering a family is the first control for students in choosing a social environment (Narvaez, 2020).In addition, character education programs' achievements must be measurable.Also, the school programs must support the character development of students.
The evaluation of character education is different from that of cognitive learning due to the different aspects assessed (Bettache et al., 2019).Character education is evaluated based on affective development, not on the knowledge related to character concepts.The teachers suggest that evaluation is performed by interview and direct observation to students.However, students' characters development can be assessed using many different ways.One of these ways is the evaluation based on the fulfillment of daily activities through observation forms that have been adjusted to the achievement indicators.This evaluation will be effective and measurable if there is a collaboration between schools, families, and communities since students spend more time in the family and community environment.This situation is relevant to the current virtual learning condition that requires students to learn from home.The role of the family in educating and developing students' character becomes more dominant.

Discussion
Character education serves as an alternative solution to develop students' good character for a bright future.Based on the analysis, implementing character education includes four aspects: 1) programmed habituation, 2) integrated, and 3) imitation.Guidance on these three aspects will bring up students' knowledge of wisdom or phronesis.Phronesis is the main foundation for students to develop moral literacy skills, as described below.

Programmed Habituation
Programmed habituation refers to the school and its element's efforts to familiarize students with various positive activities.The policy issued by schools to develop students' character is to apply school rules that contain good characters (Schuitema et al., 2008).Habituation programs can be performed in pre-learning, whilst-learning, and post-learning activities.For example, students are asked to work together to clean the school environment before learning.Other programs can be implemented in extracurricular activities facilitated by the schools.This activity has often been applied in schools.The most crucial thing in this program is not the rules enforced, but in controlling the quality of activities carried out by students, teachers, and the school (Mislia et al., 2016).In this context, students are not the only ones who carry out positive activities at school, but the habituation program must be applied for teachers and all school elements (Osguthorpe, 2009).Anam et al. (2019) found that this has been practiced in the daily program given to the students of Islamic schools (Santri in Pesantren).This habituation program will not run well if only one party, the students, is enforced to carry out good character development.Thus, teachers must have good character values (Rizzo & Bajovic, 2016).
Teachers can provide their students with forms containing a list of the daily activities they should accomplish in the morning, for example, helping their parents clean the house, tidying the bedroom, tidying clothes that will be used during the virtual class, etc.These morning activities should be confirmed to the students when teachers start the lesson to give them an impression that their performance is appreciated by the teachers.By doing this, the teachers can be accustomed to practice the values of cleanliness, discipline, and honesty in providing information and politeness when conveying information to teachers.
The characters of discipline, honesty, and politeness can also be instilled by teachers through instructions to turn on the camera when virtual learning takes place.Showing face while listening to the teacher's explanation is ethical and politeness in virtual communication.When students encounter a network problem, they can ask permission politely and honestly.This situation shows that virtual learning is not an obstacle to implementing character education.These activities can be applied to all subjects.Another action to train the good characters before starting learning is to ask students to enter a virtual class sometime before the lesson begins and greet or say the salam (Islamic greeting) to the teacher and anyone joining the class.This is part of improving the students' discipline to be punctual and appreciate the presence of teachers and other friends.However, this activity should not be performed only by the students but also the teachers as they must be a role model for their students.
Religious values can be instilled in students by asking them to pray before starting the lesson.Teachers can provide a chance to every student to lead the praying.Different students may convey distinct pray verbally to God by doing this activity.These simple activities should be a meaningful routine for both teachers and students.
The habituation program is not only integrated in the students' activities but also is inserted and internalized in teaching materials prepared by teachers of all subjects (Frisancho & Delgado, 2018).Internalizing values in the teaching materials (methods, materials, media, etc.) is a conscious effort to instill good character values in a multidisciplinary perspective.For example, Hidayati et al. (2020) and Hart et al. (2020) have designed teaching materials to convey good values optimally.Teaching materials prepared and delivered by the teachers can familiarize students with listening, speaking, reading, and writing positive things and increase their cognitive abilities.This shows that habituation can be carried out with various activities assigned to students by combining school activities, teaching materials, social activities, obliged students' activities, and assignments outside of formal school hours.

Integrated
The person's character can be visualized through their social interactions to meet the social integration with others (Narvaez & Lapsley, 2008).Character development also depends on one's motivation to appreciate, respect, and behave accordingly to others (Rokhman et al., 2014).It is fair to say that acquiring good character in the integration aspect is a holistic and comprehensive process from various social elements, including the community.This process involves a person's feelings to act normatively in society.The habituation process will not run optimally if students do not make any effort and are not motivated to integrate good character in their everyday life, at school, at home, and in their community.Therefore, it is appropriate to use social life (community environment) as a character education laboratory since various conditions, good and bad characters are available and visualized in society.
Based on the research results described previously, the integration in character education includes the process of social interaction in society and the internalization of character values in teaching materials in the classroom.Based on this, the teaching materials delivered by the teachers must be added with character values.Teachers must have an in-depth understanding of the subject matter and visualize it appropriately so that the values conveyed can impress students' memories (Bates, 2019;Pike et al., 2021).Teaching materials integrated with good character values will encourage students to develop positive morality (Berkowitz, 2011;Lovat & Clement, 2008;Narvaez & Lapsley, 2008).For this reason, the capacity and performance of teachers in internalizing character values in the learning process will affect learning outcomes.
The assignments given to students can be adjusted to the intended good character values.For example, students are given daily, weekly, monthly, and/or semester assignments.The teacher provides a general rubric for activities that students must carry out to get used to doing good and being integrated into society (Osguthorpe, 2009).The success of this program is determined by the contribution of parents in paying attention to their children's activities.In this case, parents play an important role during virtual learning and develop students' good character.Therefore, the teacher's activities and tasks must be supervised by parents at home.The integration of the two will positively impact the development of students' character.Teachers and parents must understand that paying attention to children should be done with love.They should not judge whether the actions are correct or wrong.
Internalizing good character values in learning is not always providing a concept or explanation.It would be better to convey good character values through media that students like, such as films, reading materials, activities, etc. Students are invited to discuss character values contained in their activities.Character education is not a subject explicitly studied by students, like language, religion, mathematics, etc.Therefore, the character education values must be synergized with and integrated into teaching materials designed by teachers.Internalizing and implementing character values in virtual learning include 1) giving moral responsibility to students through a series of positive activities; 2) being verbally persuasive using light discussions between teachers and students and, 3) utilizing creative learning materials and media.They can be applied in every subject matter because they do not change the substance of the material, evaluation, and learning objectives.

Imitation
Character education deals with developing students' virtue and teachers' capability to convey a good character's value.For this reason, teachers must have good characters as they are to instill characters in their students.The main problem in moral character education today is that students do not have a role model, so they tend to imitate the attitude of the wrong people (Kibble, 1998;Lumpkin, 2008).Students whose psychological development is not yet stable often imitate the figures around them as role models.When they imitate someone who has good character, they will obtain good examples.Meanwhile, they will obtain bad examples when they imitate someone having bad characters.Students must have moral literacy skills, including knowledge of virtue and decisions to take (Nurdin, 2015).
The learning process of character values begins with a teacher who has good character (Rintoul & Goulais, 2010).A teacher who has good character will provide good social and communication examples so that comfortable interaction between the two (teacher-student) can be realized (Silay, 2013).The imitation process takes place not only from the physical interactions but also the imagination and traits of the characters in a story (Turan & Ulutas, 2016).In addition, the process of imitating the teachers, characters in stories, and learning materials are also associated with the value of religiosity and local wisdom in the area where students live (Richardson, 2017).In this case, teachers should realize that learning integrated and internalized with character values can be used as an alternative to encourage the imitation of good things (Novianti, 2017;Tutkun et al., 2017).The primary and most important thing in the imitation process is that the teachers must become role models or figures adored by students.Also, they must deliver kindness to students by giving attention to the difficulties and problems faced by students.
Instilling character values is carried out during the learning process in the classroom (school) and outside of school.Character education is not shackled by time and the school environment but can take place at any time (Lickona, 2018).If this is understood correctly by all elements of society, the environment outside the school will provide a positive contribution to the development of student's character.School life is shorter than community life because it is limited by time and space.Therefore, teachers must have a schedule to interact with students simultaneously.This is even more important during the current Covid 19 pandemic (Lumbu-ani et al., 2021).
The teacher intensively contacts students alternately in groups to ask how they are doing, their daily activities, the problems they face, and suggest alternative solutions to the students (Mohamad & Masek, 2021).This good communication relationship shows the teacher's concern for the students.This will improve students' motivation to do things well and be responsible for themselves.In addition, the teacher should ask for information from the students' parents regarding the activities carried out by their children (Cabanatuan & Ahmad, 2022;Deximo & Lucero, 2021;Palma et al., 2021).When teachers contact parents, students should be present during the communication.This is part of the cooperation between the school and the family in instilling and developing good character in students.Cooperating with the family is easier to realize than collaborating with the community, which poses many obstacles.
In this age of information, teachers must give a good image to netizens when uploading their activities on social media.Teachers' positive behavior can be emulated by students and positively contribute to students' character education (Lumpkin, 2008).Also, teachers can provide comments or support by liking the positive posts uploaded by students.Teachers can apply this strategy to keep their attention on students outside formal learning hours.Teachers must be able to follow the development of civilization without changing the identity of their moral wisdom.
The main objective of character education is to actualize the values in students' lives at schools, in families, and the communities.When one understands good values, they will not deviate from the good values.Developing good character encourages children/students to think about many possibilities before acting.It is also necessary for the students to view an issue from various perspectives.This condition is aline with HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills).Good analytical skills will result in good actions and evaluations.This indicates that students need the knowledge of virtue values.In addition, the experiences possessed by students will increase their insight on good character values based on religious and social norms.
The values knowledge is not only delivered in the form of concept explanation, but students can experience it directly or learn it through teaching materials compiled by the teacher (Novianti, 2017).A teacher plays a vital role in acquiring the values because the teacher becomes a parameter and assessor of virtue itself.It has been explained previously that the teachers must have the competence and good character.Knowledge of virtue values involves various aspects to produce an action, namely concept understanding, emotions, and performance.These three components become additional references in each subject to develop good character and the performance of good characters.
The knowledge of virtue values (phronesis) is formed by three main complementary components: habituation, integration, and imitation.Phronesis refers to the capacity to know and apply correct (moral) actions through a process of identification based on critical thinking related to human actions (Kristjánsson, 2020).Phronesis is used to guide one's moral virtues through a rational reasons-based evaluation process.This will result in individual moral literacy as visualized in chart 1 below.

Figure 1. Excellent Moral Literacy as Character Education Output
The series of valuable information that has become an individual's belief will affect a person's attitude.The belief serves as an important principle in the person's life.It further becomes the standard for determining good and bad, right and wrong as well as for determining the appropriateness of an action.The belief will eventually become the person's value.Therefore, a person's choice of action reflects their beliefs.As shown in Figure 1, phronesis affects a person action and decision making based on beliefs that become moral literacy.Thus, moral action is part of a person's moral literacy ability.With regard to this, the main purpose of character education carried out in educational institutions is to develop students' moral literacy that is in balance with their excellent intelligence.

CONCLUSION
This study examines the teacher's understanding and ability to internalize and implement character education in schools.The character education is implemented through 1) programmed habituation; 2) integration; and 3) the imitation process.These programs produce knowledge of the student's value of virtue.Teachers play important roles in carrying out character education in schools.However, many teachers still experience problems in implementing character education as learning is conducted virtually.Virtual learning has become an obstacle in the implementation of character education in the last two years.Character education can be performed in face-to-face or virtual meeting.Aspects of habituation, integration, and imitation can be conveyed through the appreciation of student activity programs and teaching materials used by teachers.Learning conditions are not an obstacle to implement character education as long as the teacher understands the internalization process.
achievement and development The school environment plays an important role in the formation of students' character The community culture influences the process and success of character education in Really Agree; A: Agree; NA: Not Agree; RNA; Really Not Agree