TOWARDS SHAPING PUPILS’ SOFT-SKILLS: THE ISLAMIC TEACHING AT A BILINGUAL SCHOOL IN BANDA ACEH Emawati

The Indonesian educational system should guarantee that educational institutions in all levels not only train their students’ cognitive ability but also develop their affective domain. This important domain can be developed through various strategies, one of which is through shaping students’ soft-skills. This classroom research was conducted to identify strategies implemented by a particular bilingual school in Banda Aceh, in its attempt to develop students’ soft-skills. Having interviewed four teachers and the school principal, observed classroom, and analyzed documents, such as learning module and syllabus, we found that the teachers use various strategies in developing students’ soft-skills, one of which is through inviting students to participate in learning process and to engage in outdoor activities; promoting democratic dialogues; showing empathy and appreciation, and also presenting good examples are seen as important strategies to develop soft-skills.


INTRODUCTION
Education as mandated by the Regulation of National Education functions as a central point, in which students are trained to shape their intellectuality, good conduct, spirituality and skills required by the Indonesian community. However, educational process does not take place in formal setting, such as schools per se, it also takes place in informal and non-formal situations. It means that the educational process does not take place in a vacuum; it is therefore, taking place in the family level as well. Education in the family is carried out by Towards shaping pupils' soft-skills: the islamic teaching at Emawati & Rahmatun nisa & T. Zulfikar a bilingual school in Banda Aceh Jurnal Ilmiah DIDAKTIKA Februari 2020 VOL. 20,NO. 2,[126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142] parents. Family is the first socialization for all children, from which they learn how to behave and it develop their worldview. While at school the role of educator is carried out by teachers, at home, the main roles of educator lies on parents. For that reason, parents are responsible for instilling Islamic values, attitudes and good conducts. This initial exposure will shape their later lived experience. It is undeniable that students' attitude in wider spaces, such as schools and communities is brought from their home environment.
Therefore, at home, children should be trained by their significant others, such as parents and their siblings. Students live with their parents, in which their attitudes are shaped to recognize Islamic values. Parents are also responsible for making sure that their children obtain enough love and care. This is important as a way to develop students' attitude. Children therefore will learn more from their parents during the first socialization, which is the home environment. Parents therefore are encouraged to give a good example for their children.
In addition to home environment, school is seen as the second socialization for children. Schools are not limited to the acquisition of knowledge and skills training, they also shape the identity of students through cultural transmission and power, which is exercised within the school as an institution 1 . Critical pedagogy theorists claim that schools play two main functions; first, they function as a mechanism, which favors students on the basis of race, class, and gender; second, they act as an agency for "self and social empowerment" 2 .Critical pedagogy theorists suggest that schools transmit dominant cultural values through teaching and curriculum to students regardless of their social backgrounds 3 . In fact, schools cannot be viewed merely as great equalizers in society; instead schools have played significant role in promoting inequality among students. Schools serve to aggravate social inequality, and thus schooling experiences shape students' identity.
As a school setting is a crucial place for identity construction, teachers should have effective strategies to develop students' soft and hard-skills as well. Developing soft-skills are challenging and need extra efforts, for that reason, developing ones' soft skill should start from early childhood stages, since it will last longer and give better and longer impact toward students' attitudes 4 .
Soft Skill referred to all sorts of personal and interpersonal skills. The personal skills refer to the ability to manage themselves, while the interpersonal skills refer to the ability to  2020 VOL. 20, NO. 2, 126-142 communicate and connect with others in terms of good attributes, such as fair treatment towards others, being considerate, respectful, communicative, and being able to solve problems 5 . These all attributes should be developed since childhood, since it affects students' success in the latter stage of their lives 6 , and kindergarten is a formal educational site for the development of students' soft skill. In many kindergartens, students are trained to behave well and have good conduct. For that reason, developing students' soft skill is a must mission, in which all kindergartens should focus on. This study therefore, identified strategies used by a particular kindergarten in Banda Aceh in developing students' soft skills. Although studies on developing students' soft-skills have been widely conducted, such as the work of Susan Edwards and Amy Cutter Mackenzie; Barbara A. Ritter, Erika E. Small, John W. Mortimer, and Jessica L. Doll 7 , this particular work gives different nuances on how soft-skills are shaped in a private bilingual school in Banda Aceh.
To guide this research, we raise two important research questions: 1. What are teachers' understandings of soft skills, and how do they develop students' soft skill? 2. What challenges do teachers encounter in developing students' soft skill? And solutions offered for these challenges?

LITERATURE REVIEW Islamic Teaching: towards the development of soft-skill
The teaching of the Qur`ān and the Hadith has made clear that Muslims are required to establish family through Islamic legal binding in a form of marriage. For example, the Qur`ān says that: And among His signs is this: He created for you spouses from yourselves that you might find rest in them, and he ordained between you love and mercy" (Qur`ān,30: 21 Allāh has created spouses to all mankind, with whom they will establish family units and harvest happiness, and nurture their children. The Prophet Muhammad (PbuH) also recommends Muslims to establish families, since it is seen as an important institution, in which human beings are raised and educated; and it is a "cornerstone of Muslim society" 8 . The Qur`ān states that men and women are created equal; likewise, there are no significant differences between husbands and wives in the Muslim families. Husbands and wives; mothers and fathers bear similar responsibilities to ensure their children's physical, emotional and educational needs are sufficiently fulfilled.
In addition, Islamic teachings stipulate the importance for Muslim parents to teach their children about worship Islam such as regarding the ibadāt; the competence in reciting the Qur`ān; and regarding good conduct. In this case, husbands and wives are to work cooperatively to ensure that their children are capable of reciting the Qur`ān and having good conduct 9 . In addition to assure their children capable of reciting the Islamic Holy Book, Muslim parents are also expected by Islam to set good examples for their children. For example, upon teaching their children about performing the salāt or the sawm, they are obliged to give example through actions to allow their children imitate their ways of performing the rituals and to make their children get used to those ibadāt. For this reason, education in the Islamic point of view needs to start from home.
However, Islamic teachings suggest that parents explain Islam to their children with the best way possible. This means that parents in Islam need to position themselves as professional teachers and educators to enable them convey their messages to their children. The Qur`ān also gives guidelines on this matter, Allāh the Almighty states in the surā of Luqman: O my son! Lo! Though it be but the weight of a grain of mustard seed, and though it be a rock, or in the heavens or in the earth, Allah will bring it forth. honesty and encourage them to be faithful to Allāh. The other important issue that the Qur`ān requires Muslim parents is to encourage their children to observe the ibadat such as the salāt and the sawm. These verses also teach Muslim parents to improve their children's behaviour, since it is one of the essences of the Islamic teaching. 10 The requirement to speak softly and the restriction to be pretentious is the example of Allāh's command toward the perfection of behaviour.
In addition to parents' obligation to their children, Muslim children are also strongly advised to treat their parents with respect and avoid speaking harshly to their parents and elders, since being disrespectful is considered one of the greatest sins in the Islamic teaching. The Qur`ān also gives clear guidelines on the obligation of children toward their parents. Allāh said in surā 17: 23-35 that: Your Lord has decreed that you worship non but Him, and that (you show) kindness to parents. Should one or both of them attain to old age with you, Say not "Fie'' unto them nor repulse them, but speak unto them a gracious word. And lower unto them the wing of submission through mercy and say: My Lord! Have mercy on them both as they did care for me when I was little. Your Lord is best aware of what is in yourselves. If you are righteous, then Lo! He was ever forgiving unto those who turn unto .
These ayāt encourage Muslims not to say even a single harsh word that may hurt their elders such as parents, grandparents or other close relatives. In addition, Islam suggests that great rewards will be given by Allāh to children who are taking responsibilities on looking after their parents when these parents have reached their elder age. For this reason, in Muslim families, it is a rare phenomenon to see the elderly living alone without their relatives' company.
When certain children are sent to schools, they will be under the supervision of their school management and their teachers. There are several soft-skills need to be developed in students. Communication skill is one of the first and foremost that needs to be instilled into students. The second important skill is problem-solving skill. Other soft-skill, such as teamwork and the IT skills are also important to be developed in students. The other most important skill to develop is the learning to learn skill. This final skill in the list is indeed important, since it enables students to be independent learners. To develop these skills, teachers may need to engage in various strategies. The experiential learning strategy is the most feasible way to develop students' soft-skill. This kind of learning encourages students to take part in the learning activities, and that allow them to learn better. The teamwork and extra-curricular activities are also most important strategies teachers should implement to allow the development of students' soft-skills 11 .

Soft-skill development: Early Childhood Education Program Outlooks.
Soft-skill has been very popular in academia. It is seen as important skills but not necessarily connected to a specific task in an organization 12 . It is also resemble social skills, which include various competencies, such as transversal competences, social competences, generic competences, even basic and life skills 13 . Others suggests that soft-skills include These skills such as communication skills, analytical, critical and problem solving skills, lifelong learning ability, entrepreneurship and management skills 14 . These competencies and skills should be molded and developed since childhood. This is because earlier ages determine lives in the later stages. It is for that reason the role of early childhood education is paramount. In the meantime, most universities and higher education institutions offer early childhood education program to cater the need to shape students' competencies and skills from their early ages. For example, Monash University, a widely recognized university offers early childhood education, and sees the program as a central point for developing human resource since childhood.
Tonya Brooks emphasizes the need to develop good early childhood education, since it is believed that intervention given in early childhood period improves one' capacities in the areas of cognition, language, motor, and social-emotional development. This is so, since exposing young children to appropriate environments is believed to have a great impact on brain development during those critical first 5 years of life. It is to say that the five years of students are very critical for their cognitive, affective, and psychomotor development 15 . To effectively develop these skills, early childhood education institution, such as Play Group, Kindergarten, and Preparation School are to design modules and teaching approaches, which are different from those used in secondary school levels.
Instructional process taking place in early childhood education program are flexible, varied and leisure. Play-based learning is one of the most popular teaching approaches exercised in early childhood education program. The play-based learning emphasizes 16 the need to carry out learning through playing, previously known as learning by playing. For that reason, it is very important to design curriculum that best meet the objectives of early childhood education programs-developing various students' competencies 17 . The other important ways of shaping students' soft-skill in early childhood education as suggested by Kristiina Kumpulainen is school-family, and community engagement. She argues that schools cannot be left alone to carry out education at this early age, parents and community should platy pivotal roles in helping out to shape students' soft-skills.

RESEARCH METHOD
This is a qualitative research, in which we explore phenomenon under inquiry through participant observation, in-depth interview and document analysis 18 . These methods of data collection enabled us to have an in-depth understanding on our inquiry. The observation allowed grasping the big picture on how teachers develop students' soft-skills; while the interview permitted us to understand more in-depth information on ways of developing the soft-skills 19 . The document analysis is addressed to look into more details on written documents consisting on the visions and missions of the school.

a. Research Sites and Participants
The research was conducted in a bilingual school in Banda Aceh. The school was chosen since it applies the so called progressive education theory. The school is also considered as one of the newly established school. To enable researchers explored comprehensive data to answer our inquiry, we invited five participants to take part in the study. Four teachers teaching in two different classrooms and a school principal were interviewed in this particular study. In this article, the participants were referred with pseudonym.

b. Methods of data collection
The data was collected using three different and yet interrelated methods of data collection. The details steps of our data collection were described in the following.
1. Observation: This is the first method used in the data collection. The observation was conducted once in each classroom. The observation focused in teachers' strategies in developing their students' soft-skills. Teachers' ways of communication with their students; types of assignment given and teachers' classroom management were the main focus of the observation. 2. Interviews: This is the second method used in collecting data. In-depth semistructured interviews were used to collect detailed data on teachers' strategies in developing sift-skills. Teachers and school principals were interviewed for more in-depth information on school programs and on teachers' performance 3. Document analysis: The analysis of the document focus on school curriculum and visions and missions of the school.

c. Methods of data analysis
Data gained from this research was analyzed qualitatively. First, the interview data will be transcribed in verbatim. The data will be then reduced to generate theme so that theories can be drawn. The data were analyzed through coding techniques: the open coding 20 , in which the data was narrowed down from a big data generated from observation, interview and also analysis of documents. The second step of codification is the axial coding. This second step of data analysis was important because it allowed us to select important coding out of many coding generated from the data. The final coding used in this research was selective coding. The selective coding was then selected important themes for the data for this research.

Findings from the fieldwork have revealed important facts that teachers at Ar-Risalah
Bilingual School used various strategies in developing students' soft-skills. Our observation, for example suggests that teachers use multiple ways of developing students' soft-skill. This is indicative from the way these teachers welcome students. For instance, the teachers have tried to shape students' soft-skills from the very beginning of their presence at school. The teachers communicate with students by the time they arrive at school, and that strengthen teachers-students' relationship. The impact of this early communication is significant in learning success. Good first communication between teachers and students will indeed shape the course of learning. A simple question, such as 'how are you?'; 'how was your day?'; 'did you do something special yesterday with your family?' are example of questions, which seem very simple, but yet it energizes students, in which they see classroom learning as fun and joyful.
Ira Shor for example emphasizes the need to get connected with students prior to actual learning in the classroom 21 . They stated first and the foremost that teachers should do in teaching is 'to get them in'. Teachers should make sure to get the students in first before 20 . 20,NO. 2,[126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142] learning. They could do this through three ways: greeting, seating and starting. Teachers are encouraged to greet students when they arrive at schools. Greeting is important to show a kind of warm welcome to students. Second, teachers should consider the seating arrangement. To provide creative and joyful learning, teachers may need to consider interesting seating arrangement for effective learning to take place; they should alternate seating arrangement to avoid boredom. The third way used 'to get them in' is the starting. Creative starting of the lesson is important that functions as the warming activities. To actually start the lesson, teachers are encouraged to first do some warming up activities to allow students get together and ready for the learning process.
In line with this quote, Teuku Zulfikar emphasizes the need to develop democratic dialogues with students. This will not only help students to establish emotional attachment with their teachers but also allow them to develop positive learning attitude 22 .
In addition, democratic dialogues can also be promoted through inviting the students to be independent and getting them to get used to positive activities during the instructional process at school.
One of the teachers thus mentioned the following issues: 22 Teuku Zulfikar (2013). Looking from within: The progressive education in Indonesia. International Journal of Progressive Education. V.9, No.3. p. 124-136;Zulfikar, T. (2009) What we do as the teachers in developing students' soft-skill is to get them used to doing something good, such as sharing things like food or toys. We also trained them to be independent, such as getting them used to going to toilet themselves, doing their own diet and also get dresses (Lili) These two quotes suggest that promoting democratic dialogue with students is an important strategy to develop soft-skill. These teachers believe that students should be made used to engaging with many positive activities.
Democratic dialogue is significant in the attempt to create a healthy learning environment because it gives students the space to voice their understanding or point of view on issues. Shared authority in the classroom will allow critical dialogue to emerge 23 . In addition, democratic dialogue has been recognized as important across educational settings, not only in a particular level of early childhood education program but also in secondary and also tertiary education level. Scholars such as Karen Littletone and Christine Howe compiled articles on democratic dialogues across fields of study 24 . This suggests that to succeed in teaching, ones should consider implanting democratic dialogues in their teaching.

Encouraging Learning Participation
In addition to promoting healthy communication or democratic dialogue, the teachers believe that students should be asked to participate in learning. In today's education, studentcentered instruction has been a popular educational system. Inviting students to participate in learning yield many benefits. One of the teachers stated: To enhance students' confidence, I usually ask if any of them want to go up to the stage to perform. Some students are willingly volunteers to perform, while some others need to be convinced, by saying that parents will be happy if they are willing to participate (Dewi) This suggests that confidence can be improved by inviting students to participate during learning. Studies suggest that confidence is seen as one of the soft-skills needs to be developed in students. Scholars in the field believe that teachers should both provide autonomy and structure to students to allow them more opportunities to engage in learning, but yet they should also abide by classrooms' rules and ethics 25 23 Ira Shor (1992).   Jurnal Ilmiah DIDAKTIKA Februari 2020 VOL. 20, NO. 2, 126-142 In the same tone, Dian, one of the teachers at school states that confidence is needed to be instilled in students, and one way to do this is by inviting students to take part in academic as well as non-academic activities At school, students are invited to get involved in many social activities, such as inviting them to pick up rubbish/leaves and other kinds of wastes. One of the main objectives of this activity is to make students get used to live a healthy life (Dian) This quote suggests that good habits should be enculturalized in students using various strategies. It is not easy to promote good habits unless it is socialized from childhood. Confidence is one the most important soft-skill to be instilled into students, since it helps them gain success in their learning process. It is for that reason, teachers should pay attention on developing this attitude. However, Merril Harmin and Melanie Toth 26 argue that teachers cannot give confidence to students; it is the self, who could give confidence, and what teachers could do is to stimulate this to emerge through many ways possible, one of which is by expressing positive statement, such as 'good job'; you are very welcomed in this class'; I am happy you if you could participate in any way during learning' are some statement out of the many that could boost students' self-confidence. 27

Showing empathy and giving appreciation
The other important finding about strategies in developing soft-skill is showing empathy and giving appreciation. Say for example, when students made mistake in their learning, teachers are not supposed to insult or underestimate these students, they in fact should encourage them to do much better and to try their best. Appreciation is vital in learning process, since it will boost students' learning success. One of the teachers stated that: After I ask student to do counting, for instance, I always say 'good job honey, and some other kinds of appreciation. By doing this, I believe students will be developed significantly (Dian) In addition to appreciation, showing empathy is also an important strategy to boost students' soft-skill. Empathy should be shown by teachers as a way to respect their students. In this regard, teachers should implement a democratic teaching, since it regards students' mistake as normal in learning process. For example, punishing students for an inability to perform well in the classroom or for their inability to do homework will discourage students, 26 Jurnal Ilmiah DIDAKTIKA Februari 2020 VOL. 20, NO. 2, 126-142 and hamper their academic improvement. The basic tenet of a democratic classroom according to Steven Wolk is respecting students because only then can meaningful learning occur 28 . A democratic environment in the classroom will allow teachers to better understand their students' capabilities from any mistakes they might make. Understanding students' weaknesses will allow the development of students' soft-skills.

The Role Model
This is the other important strategy used in developing students' soft-skill is by showing good example. It is important to note that showing the action will be remembered better by students than giving instruction only. For example, if the teachers teach students to be responsible for their environment, by keeping it clean from any wastes, teachers should act the action first to show the students a good way to keep the environment clean.
In addition, the teachers should then convince students to do the same. One of the teachers stated as in the following.
We have prepared rubbish bin at school, and students are showed how to leave rubbish in the bin provide. If students ignore in keeping their rubbish away, the teacher then convince them by asking a hypothetical question, such as 'what if you leave rubbish around, do you think your school looks beautiful and clean?
The quote suggests important fact that showing empathy and allow for mistake to occur, learning will take place more effectively. This is because it encourages students to try new things. Teachers as role model have been confirmed to be effective for successful teaching. It is important to note that teaching is a complex profession; meaning that they are expected to have not only subject matter and pedagogical matter knowledge but also special kind of attributes, such as considerate and passionate for educational process 29 Our data show that one of the challenges in developing students' soft skill was the fact that students were difficult to stay focus. It is important to note that students in that age are for sure very difficult to stay calm. One of the teachers state:

Challenges and Solutions offered
It is very difficult to make students of that age, between 2-4 years old to concentrate and focus on the lesson given by teachers. Most of them only stay calm for 5 to 10 minutes.
As it is very difficult to make you students to stay calm, it is important in this early childhood education, teachers find various strategies to engage students in learning. It is almost impossible to make these students stay calm and focus to a certain learning activity. Apart from this problem, there was no significant problem voiced by teachers that inhibit them from developing students' soft-skills.

Recruiting Effective Teachers
As the process of early childhood education is very complex, it is important for educational institutions to recruit the most appropriate teachers that fit to the tasks. We believe that the nature of early childhood education requires for teachers who have specific attributes. They should be lovely and are passionate working with children; these are some attributes in line with the tasks teachers face in early childhood education. For that reason, the principal of the bilingual school, in which we conducted research, stated that the first and the foremost they do is recruiting not only highly qualified teachers but also appropriate teachers for the task.
In her own word, the principal stated: Our main focus when we first established this school was identifying teachers whose attribute fit the objective of our philosophy of education. This is important to note that early childhood education is unlike education for adult. We need to strictly and carefully recruit teachers who have competencies to work with children.
This quote shows that teachers attributes that fit the needs of early childhood education is indeed very important. This is because students in that early age, are very unique in their behavior. They should be treated in such a way that allows learning to take place. The early childhood education is the second site of socialization for children, in which their attitudes are molded and shaped within this stage.

CONCLUSIONS
Developing students' soft-skills is important in educational institutions. Having interviewed some teachers and observed of classrooms, we found four main strategies used in Towards shaping pupils' soft-skills: the islamic teaching at Emawati & Rahmatun nisa & T. Zulfikar a bilingual school in Banda Aceh Jurnal Ilmiah DIDAKTIKA Februari 2020 VOL. 20,NO. 2,[126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142] Jurnal Ilmiah DIDAKTIKA VOL. 20, NO. 2, Februari 2020 | 139 our research settings: the soft-skills are developed through engaging students into learning, in which democratic dialogue is used. Democratic dialogue does not only help students engage in learning but also allow them to express themselves more freely. Showing empathy, appreciation and good example is also regarded as one of the most important strategies used in developing students' soft-skill. Appreciation and empathy encourage the development of students' self-confidence. This is because students do not feel any significant pressure during the learning process, since teachers show empathy and appreciation on their classroom practices in spite of their learning weaknesses. Finally, showing good examples to students will also trigger the emergence of positive attitude. However, the research also found that one of the challenges teachers found in developing students' soft skills is that students are not able to stay focus in their learning, and solutions for this challenge is through recruiting teachers whose attributes fit the nature of young students.