Transforming Early Childhood Religious Education in Gayo Lues: Toward Critical and Contextual Learning

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the transformation of early childhood religious education in Gayo Lues toward a critical and contextual learning model. Early childhood religious education in Gayo Lues remains predominantly conventional and memorization-oriented, with limited attention to children’s developmental reasoning and contextual understanding of religious values. This condition reduces the responsiveness of religious learning to contemporary challenges that require creativity, reflection, social empathy, and adaptive religious character. Employing a qualitative field study, this research investigates religious-based early childhood education institutions in Gayo Lues through observations, interviews, and documentation involving teachers, parents, and educational managers. The findings indicate that the transformation of religious learning occurs through the integration of Islamic values with Gayo local culture, active and dialogical learning strategies, interactive media, and habituation of religious values in children’s everyday lives. This model enhances children’s participation, age-appropriate reasoning, social empathy, and practical understanding of religious values. The study concludes that early childhood religious education should move beyond knowledge transmission toward a critical, contextual, and humanistic pedagogical model that accommodates children’s developmental needs while responding to the challenges of contemporary life.