Volume I: Eco-Theology, Spirituality, and Environmental Ethics

Teacher Leadership in Islamic Madrasahs: Fostering Student Engagement and Well-Being for Cultural Resilience in the Multipolar Era

  • Feri Indra Irawan UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Indonesia
  • Uus Ruswandi UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Indonesia
  • Rosleny Marliani UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords

Teacher Leadership; Islamic Madrasah; Student Engagement; Student Well-Being; Cultural Resilience; Multipolar Era; Mixed Literature Review.

Abstract

The multipolar era has introduced new challenges for Islamic education through rapid technological advancement, socio-cultural transformation, and growing concerns regarding students' psychological well-being. In this context, teacher leadership has emerged as a strategic factor for strengthening student engagement and student well-being as foundations of cultural resilience. Nevertheless, research on teacher leadership within Islamic madrasahs remains limited. This study aims to analyze the development of international research on teacher leadership, identify the conceptual relationships among teacher leadership, student engagement, and student well-being, examine existing research gaps in the context of Islamic madrasahs, and validate these relationships through a preliminary empirical investigation. This study employed a Mixed Literature Review approach integrating a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer, and a preliminary qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with guidance and counseling teachers from three Islamic junior secondary madrasahs in West Java, Indonesia. The literature review followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and synthesized 236 Scopus-indexed journal articles that met the inclusion criteria. The findings indicate that teacher leadership has become one of the fastest-growing themes in educational leadership research during the last two decades. However, previous studies remain largely concentrated in general school settings, while no Scopus-indexed study explicitly addresses teacher leadership within Islamic madrasahs. Furthermore, only a limited number of studies examine the relationships between teacher leadership, student engagement, and student well-being. Preliminary findings demonstrate that teacher leadership contributes to creating a positive learning environment, strengthening student engagement, promoting students' psychological well-being, and supporting the development of cultural resilience in Islamic madrasahs. Teacher leadership represents a strategic mechanism linking teachers' professional capacity with students' learning experiences and psychological well- being. By integrating systematic literature review, bibliometric analysis, and preliminary empirical evidence, this study provides the conceptual foundation for developing an Islamic Teacher Leadership Model that connects teacher leadership, student engagement, student well-being, and cultural resilience. The findings contribute to the advancement of Islamic educational leadership theory and provide a basis for future empirical research and educational policy development in madrasahs.

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