Enacting interreligious learning in Indonesian Islamic education: a phenomenological study of teacher practice

This phenomenological study investigates how Islamic Religious Education teachers in Indonesian public senior high schools enact interreligious learning. Responding to calls for empirical research on interreligious practices in Southeast Asia, the study examines the lived experiences of 26 teachers across 26 public senior high schools in Banyuwangi, East Java, a regency characterized by significant religious diversity. Drawing on in-depth interviews and document analysis of lesson plans and school policies, the study reveals five essential themes in teachers’ lived experiences: (1) professional identity reorientation from doctrinal transmission toward dialogical facilitation; (2) pedagogical design of structured encounters, including dialogue, case analysis, and cross-religious simulations; (3) integration of local wisdom ( kearifan lokal ) as a medium for interreligious learning; (4) the ecological contingency of teacher agency upon institutional leadership; and (5) persistent structural constraints, including inadequate professional development and inequitable certification access. Building on these empirical findings, the study proposes a three-level model of pedagogical mediation that conceptualizes how religious moderation policy is translated into student dispositions through teachers’ interpretive labor, enacted practice, and institutional conditions. These findings challenge transmission-oriented approaches, revealing interreligious learning as a fragile pedagogical achievement sustained by teachers who reimagine their professional identity within plural contexts.