Integrating School Counseling with Islamic Religious Education to Prevent Violence in an Indonesian Madrasah: A Design-Based Study

Abstract

Violence prevention at MTsS Darul Ulum Banyuanyar remained constrained by reactive counseling services, fragmented case documentation, limited anti-violence content in Islamic Religious Education, and informal collaboration between school counselors and religious education teachers. This study aimed to develop, validate, implement, and evaluate a structured model integrating school counseling with Islamic Religious Education to prevent violence in the madrasah. The study employed Design-Based Research supported by quantitative and qualitative data. Thirty-seven eighth-grade students participated in two iterative cycles comprising eight meetings, while six experts and practitioners validated the model. Data were collected through interviews, observations, questionnaires, document analysis, and field notes. Expert validation yielded a mean score of 3.62 out of 4.00, indicating that the model was highly feasible. Student outcomes increased progressively from 66.5% at pretest to 76.8% after Cycle I and 85.3% after Cycle II. The greatest improvement occurred in students’ perceptions of counseling services, followed by their acceptance of counseling–religious education integration. The study concludes that structured collaboration can strengthen preventive learning, improve access to counseling, and promote anti-violence attitudes, although broader testing is required to confirm its effectiveness.