Developing system congruence for the integration of formal and Non-Formal education

This study examines the implementation and development of system congruence as a strategic framework for integrating nonformal education specifically psychosocial mentoring and family literacy into the formal edu-cation system at SMAN 4 Kota Bima.The background of the research arises from the growing need to strengthen student character, emotional regulation, and family school collaboration in response to challenges such as inconsistent parental involvement, limited psychosocial support, and the weak alignment of home school values.The study aims to analyze how system congruence is applied, how the integration process is developed, and how it contributes to character education through the synergy of school policies, pedagogical practices, cultural values, and family roles.Using a qualitative descriptive design, data were collected through interviews, observations, documentation, and coding analysis involving school leaders, teachers, counselors, parents, students, and the MEW Foundation.Findings indicate that system congruence is achieved through institutional alignment (RKAS, SOP, MoU), curriculum integration (P5, PPKn, Religion), psychosocial men-toring, family literacy activities, and multi-layered evaluation.The integration strengthens character develop-ment such as empathy, discipline, responsibility, communication, and emotional regulation through the align-ment of institutional demands and individual needs.The study concludes that system congruence forms an adaptive, collaborative, and culturally grounded character education ecosystem.