Students' religious moderation in multicultural madrasahs: Perceived principal managerial effectiveness, teacher competence, and Love Curriculum-aligned experiences

Abstract

This study examines how students' perceptions of principal managerial effectiveness, teacher competence, and Love Curriculum-aligned experiences are associated with religious moderation in two state madrasahs in multicultural North Sulawesi, Indonesia, and clarifies their unique predictive contributions when the three school-level variables are considered simultaneously within one analytical framework. A quantitative cross-sectional explanatory survey was conducted with 110 Grade X and XI students from MAN 1 Model Manado and MAN 1 Bitung. Data were collected using an 87-item four-point Likert questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from .864 to .923. Descriptive statistics, simple regression, and multiple regression were used after testing residual normality, linearity, independence, heteroscedasticity, and multicollinearity. All three predictors were significantly associated with religious moderation when tested separately. In the simultaneous model, perceived principal managerial effectiveness (beta = .287, p = .002) and Love Curriculum-aligned experiences (beta = .331, p < .001) made significant unique contributions, whereas perceived teacher competence did not (beta = .103, p = .292). The model was significant, F(3, 106) = 19.016, p < .001, and explained 35.0% of the variance in religious moderation. The findings indicate that institutional leadership and value-oriented curricular experiences are important components of religious moderation in multicultural madrasahs. Interpretation should remain cautious because the study is cross-sectional, relies on student self-reports, and covers only two institutions. The study provides preliminary empirical evidence by jointly examining student-perceived leadership, teacher competence, and Love Curriculum-aligned experiences within a multicultural madrasah context.