SCHOOL CULTURAL AS THE MAIN PILLAR OF CHARACTER EDUCATION

: Facing the era of globalization, character education gets serious attention in Indo-nesia. However,
studies show that character education has not been effective yet, so the Gov-ernment of Indonesia issues the
Presidential Regulation No. 87/2017 on Strengthening Charac-ter Education. However a research conducted by
MOEC found 10 schools have successfully de-veloped character education based on the values of Pancasila
philosophy combined with local wisdom.
The purpose of this research was to find the main pillar of successful character education, es-pecially in
elementary schools. The research used qualitative research methods with multi sites in the three primary schools
mentioned in the MOEC study. Data were collected through a se-ries of observations and in-depth interviews
from January to May 2017. Data analyzed simulta-neously through data condensation, data display and
conclusion.
The research found school culture was the main pillar of character education success. When school culture was
built on the basis of the values that are believed to be good, then the school leaders, teachers and other school
staffs will behave daily according to the culture. Then stu-dents will imitate their behavior and that means
behaving in accordance with the values of the characters developed. It confirmed that everyone has a tendency
to adapt to his environment.