Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman https://ejournal.
uit-lirboyo.
id/index.
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, 2026, 99-116 DOI: 10.
33367/ji.
Available Online: 2026-04-25
E-ISSN: 2685-4155
Making Space in Reflective Practices as an Emotional Pedagogy in a Children's Islamic Boarding School Ika Wahyuningsih,1* Aji Pangestu,2 Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Al-Anwar Sarang Rembang.
Indonesia ikawahyuningsih@staialanwar.
id, 2ajipangestu@staialanwar.
Received: 2026-03-01 *) Corresponding Author Copyright A2026 Authors Revised: 2026-04-06 Approved: 2026-04-15 Abstract Strengthening emotion regulation has become an urgent priority in educational research and practice, particularly in learning environments that demand high levels of self-discipline, emotional control, and social adaptation in communal life.
This study aims to explore the practice of making space as a pedagogical mechanism that mediates children's emotion regulation processes in the pesantren.
The research was conducted at a children's Islamic Boarding School in Rembang.
Central Java.
Indonesia, involving 20 elementary school-age children and 4 caregivers.
Data were collected through observation, interviews, and documentation study.
The data were analyzed through four stages: data collection, condensation, display, and conclusion The findings indicate that pesantren, responses to emotional triggers (ET) do not remain at the level of impulsive reactivity (IR) in the form of crying, anger, and harsh verbal expressions, but are mediated by the practice of making space (MS), manifested in momentary silence, withdrawal, writing, drawing, pausing play with peers, and engaging in free movement within reflective activities (RP) as part of emotion pedagogy (EP) embedded in children's daily lives, which is conceptualized as a space for the production of reflective-deliberative (RD) emotional responses.
The study underscores that pesantrens may explicitly integrate emotion regulation into their pedagogical design through structured, programmed, and institutionally legitimized practices within boarding life.
Keywords: Emotional Pedagogy.
Islamic Boarding School.
Reflective Practices.
Abstrak Penguatan regulasi emosi menjadi prioritas mendesak dalam penelitian dan praktik pendidikan, khususnya pada lingkungan belajar yang menuntut tingkat disiplin diri, pengendalian emosi, dan adaptasi sosial yang tinggi di kehidupan komunal.
Studi ini bertujuan mengeksplorasi praktik pemberian jeda sebagai mekanisme pedagogis yang memediasi proses regulasi emosi anak di pesantren.
Penelitian dilakukan di salah satu pesantren anak di Rembang.
Jawa Tengah Indonesia, dengan melibatkan 20 anak usia sekolah dasar dan 6 pengasuh.
Pengumpulan data melalui observasi, wawancara dan studi dokumentasi.
Data dianalisis melalui empat tahap.
pengumpulan data, kondensasi, penyajian data dan verifikasi kesimpulan.
Temuan penelitian menunjukkan bahwa dalam communal life .
, respons terhadap emotional triggers (ET) tidak berhenti pada reaksi impulsif (IR) berupa tangisan, kemarahan, dan ujaran kasar, melainkan dimediasi oleh praktik making space (MS) berupa respon diam sejenak, menyendiri, menulis, menggambar, jeda bermain bersama teman, dan bergerak bebas dalam aktivitas refleksi (RP) sebagai bagian dari pedagogi emosi (EP) yang hidup dalam keseharian anak yang terkonseptualisasi sebagai ruang produksi This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.
International License.
Ika Wahyuningsih.
Aji Pangestu respons emosional yang reflektif-deliberatif (RD).
Studi ini menggarisbawahi bahwa pesantren dapat mempertimbangkan pengintegrasian regulasi emosi secara eksplisit dalam desain pedagogis melalui praktik yang terstruktur, terprogram, dan terlegitimasi dalam kehidupan berasrama.
Kata Kunci: Pedagogi Emosi.
Pesantren.
Praktik Refleksi.
Introduction Emotion regulation has emerged as a central construct in contemporary educational and developmental research due to its crucial role in children's socioemotional adjustment, academic engagement, and long-term well-being.
1 Globally, attention to children's capacity to manage emotions has increasingly intensified alongside the growing psychosocial challenges, including academic pressure, social instability, digital exposure, and disruptions to educational systems in the postpandemic context.
2 International studies have consistently demonstrated that deficits in emotion regulation during childhood are associated with various negative outcomes.
Referring to Baroud et al.
,3 across 26 districts in Lebanon indicates that the prevalence of emotion dysregulation among children aged 8-12 years is significantly correlated with lower school performance.
Therefore, strengthening emotion regulation has become an urgent priority in educational research and practice, particularly within learning environments that demand high levels of self-discipline, emotional control, and social adaptation.
In line with this urgency, educational contexts that inherently demand high levels of emotion regulation capacity can be found in the pesantren education system.
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Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman Vol.
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Making Space in Reflective Pratice as an Emotional Pedagogy which is a complex learning environment.
Islamic Boarding Schools are widely recognized in the academic literature as distinctive Indonesian Islamic educational institutions characterized by the integration of academic learning, religious education, communal living, and moral formation.
4 In contrast to boarding school systems in other contexts, which are often classified by regional distinctions such as rural and urban settings.
Indonesian Islamic Boarding Schools operate as a holistic religious educational ecology spanning from primary to higher levels of education.
This structure means that children of elementary school age also live within structured boarding routines, collective rituals, disciplinary frameworks, and an intensive pattern of social interaction.
The development of children of elementary school age represents an early phase in the formation of increasingly reflective and internalized emotion regulation capacities, encompassing the ability to recognize, express, and manage emotional responses more independently.
5 Within the context of boarding, this developmental phase unfolds amid a complex emotional landscape, marked by separation from parents, cross-age peer interactions in communal spaces, and demands for compliance with strict religious and institutional norms.
6 The tension between children's developmental needs and the institution's collective expectations underscores the urgency of examining how children in Islamic Boarding Schools interpret, negotiate, and practice emotion regulation in their daily lives.
Reflective practices have the potential to serve as important mechanisms in helping children navigate the complexity of emotional experiences in an Islamic Boarding School.
More specifically, this area remains underexplored, both theoretically and empirically.
A systematic literature review mapping research trends on Islamic Boarding Schools .
identifies two primary levels of analysis: the micro and Dong.
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HB.
China: Central China Normal University, 2.
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Akhmad Nurul Kawakip and Sulanam Sulanam.
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Indonesia,Ay Journal of Indonesian Islam 17, no.
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AuThe Role of Emotional Regulation on Early Child School Adjustment Outcomes,Ay Archives Psychiatric Nursing .
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Ling Li Leng and Nueraili Dayimu.
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Hao Li et al.
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1016/j.
Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman Vol.
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Ika Wahyuningsih.
Aji Pangestu macro levels.
At the micro level, research tends to focus on the internal dynamics of Islamic Boarding Schools, particularly systems, curriculum, values, and traditions, as well as the roles of kiai and santri.
Meanwhile, at the macro level, studies examine the responsiveness of pesantrens to external changes, including ecological and social shifts, democratization, technological and digital media developments, and political changes.
Recent studies further affirm the work of Gazali and Budiana, situating pesantren research within academic discourse and indicating that it tends to center on curriculum reform, instructional innovation, and the digitalization of education.
8 This dominant orientation, although important, indirectly leaves a gap in understanding the emotional dynamics of children in Islamic Boarding Schools within the context of communal life.
Studies addressing the domain of emotional processes underlying children's adaptive capacities have consequently received limited analytical attention.
In addition, few studies on reflective practices explicitly examine how children are allowed to "pause momentarily" in response to emerging emotional triggers before entering the reflective process.
This gap is significant, considering that the elementary school period constitutes a crucial phase in the development of emotion regulation that requires space for conscious affective processing.
This study aims to explore how children in elementary school in Islamic Boarding Schools experience and manage their emotional dynamics, how making space within reflective activities is implemented in the context of Islamic Boarding Schools, and how this process contributes to the development of children's emotion-regulation capacities.
This study contributes by conceptualizing the practice of making space before reflection as a pedagogical mechanism that mediates children's emotion regulation processes within the structured ecology of the Islamic Boarding School.
Method This study employs an exploratory qualitative approach, drawing on Creswell & Creswell,9 which aims to explore the practice of making space within reflective activities as a pedagogical mechanism that mediates children's emotion regulation Erfan Gazali and Agnes Arum Budiana.
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Insights from the Scopus Database .
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David Creswell.
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Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 5th edition (Sage Publication.
Inc, 2.
Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman Vol.
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Making Space in Reflective Pratice as an Emotional Pedagogy processes within the structured ecology of the Islamic Boarding School.
The research was conducted at a children's Islamic Boarding School in Rembang.
Central Java.
Indonesia, from January to February 2026.
Data collection techniques included observation, interviews, and document observation was conducted with 20 children to capture emotional dynamics within the context of communal boarding life.
interviews employed a purposive sampling approach to gather data on the reflective practices implemented and to understand emotion regulation processes directly from participants' perspectives.
Informant Code Table 1.
Informant Data Status Informant Code Children (Femal.
Children (Femal.
Children (Femal.
Children (Mal.
Children (Mal.
Status Children (Mal.
Teacher (Femal.
Teacher (Femal.
Teacher (Mal.
Teacher (Mal.
Based on Table 1, the informants in this study comprised two main groups:
children (C) and teachers (T).
The children (C) group comprised six participants, with a composition of three females (C1.
C2.
and three males (C4.
C5.
, while the teacher group consisted of four participants, including two females (T1.
and two males (T3.
This composition indicates balanced gender representation within each group of informants.
The identities of the informants were kept confidential using specific codes.
Document analysis included the examination of collective agreements, consequences regulations, and children's reflective artifacts, such as personal notes and visual media, while ensuring consent from the relevant parties.
Data analysis techniques were conducted in four steps, as shown in Figure 1:
data collection, data reduction, data display, conclusion drawing, and data verification.
Data were collected through observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation, and subsequently reduced through processes of selection and thematic coding to focus on relevant aspects of emotion regulation.
The data were then presented descriptively in narrative form, supported by tables or diagrams to facilitate interpretation.
Conclusions were drawn by linking the findings with theoretical frameworks and prior research.
Data validity was ensured through source and method triangulation and member checking with participants, while the reliability of the analysis was strengthened through an audit trail and peer debriefing.
Ethically, this study obtained formal approval from the Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman Vol.
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DOI: 10.
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Ika Wahyuningsih.
Aji Pangestu pesantren authorities, adhered to the principle of informed consent, and maintained participants' identities in confidence through anonymity.
Figure 1.
Data Analysis Techniques (Source: Adapted from Miles.
Huberman, & Saldaya .
) Results and Discussion Result The flow of findings presented in Figure 2 shows that within communal life .
, responses to emotional triggers (ET) do not remain at the level of impulsive reactivity (IR) in the form of crying, anger, and harsh verbal expressions, but are mediated by the practice of making space (MS), manifested in momentary silence, withdrawal, writing, drawing, pausing play with peers, and engaging in free movement within reflective activities (RP) as part of emotion pedagogy (EP) embedded in children's daily lives, which is conceptualized as a space for the production of reflective-deliberative emotional responses (RD).
Figure 2.
A Process Model of Emotional Pedagogy Discussion Emotional Triggers and Spontaneous Reactions in Communal Life Children's emotional experiences in the Islamic Boarding School primarily emerge from the dynamics of everyday interactions rather than from major disciplinary Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman Vol.
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Making Space in Reflective Pratice as an Emotional Pedagogy The six participants involved reported that peer relational tensions are the most dominant triggers.
As expressed by C1.
C4.
C5, and C6, "I feel sad when I am not invited to play together or when I have no one to accompany me in playing.
" This is reinforced by the caregiver's statement (T.
, "most emotional incidents arise from friendship conflicts.
" These findings are consistent with the literature, which indicates that peer support is significantly correlated with emotional well-being, whereas parental support does not always function as a protective factor in boarding environments.
This dynamic is also reflected in the statement of T2, one of the children at the most senior age level .
, whose communication style reflects "seniority," thereby creating social distance from peers.
The phenomenon of seniority constitutes a relatively pervasive concern within Islamic Boarding School culture.
11 From the perspective of social dominance theory, age differences may trigger the formation of relational hierarchies that influence interactional dynamics.
12 Furthermore, the impact of peer rejection on the manifestation of children's behavioral problems occurs due to limited emotion regulation capacity, leading them to express experiences of rejection through aggressive responses.
In addition to relational conflicts, transitions in daily activities also constitute a source of emotional tension.
A caregiver (T.
stated that the absence of confirmation regarding activity transitions may trigger children's frustration, "for example, it needs to be communicated that after Activity "A" there will be a 10-minute pause.
" The lack of clear information about changes in activities generates emotional reactions, such as complaints about the schedule's density, which can make children angry and Li et al.
AuSocial Support and Emotional Well-Being among Boarders and Day School Students: A Two-Wave Longitudinal StudyAy.
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Ika Wahyuningsih.
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From a self-regulation perspective, activity transitions require executive functions such as shifting and inhibitory control, which are still developing in children of elementary school age.
15 When expectations regarding pauses are not fulfilled, frustration emerges as a response to the obstruction of regulatory and emotional recovery needs.
Thus, angry and uncooperative reactions may be understood as expressions of a high regulatory burden within a highly structured living system.
These findings affirm that temporal factors and the communication of schedules carry significant psychological implications for children's emotional stability in boarding During the initial phase of residence at the Islamic Boarding School, spontaneous responses to emotionally triggering situations occurred more frequently (T.
Children tended to cry immediately, express anger verbally, or display tantrumlike behaviors.
In several cases, the use of harsh words became a direct outlet for The production of such utterances emerged alongside heightened emotional arousal and represented the form of emotion being experienced.
16 The immediate emotional situation did not solely trigger these verbal expressions but also reflected communication patterns internalized from previous environments.
As T4 stated, "there are children who vent their emotions through 'misuh', carried over from the home In general, children's responses in confronting emotionally conflictual situations tended to be immediate and spontaneous.
When children felt unaccompanied, the spontaneous responses that emerged typically took the form of crying, anger, and harsh verbal expressions.
This pattern indicates a strong sensitivity to relational experiences, which were expressed promptly following the emergence of a trigger.
17 Within the context of an intensive collective living space, age differences, perceptions of seniority.
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Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman Vol.
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Making Space in Reflective Pratice as an Emotional Pedagogy communication styles, peer interactions, and differences of opinion often pose challenges and give rise to significant emotional tensions.
18 These responses indicate a tendency toward high emotional reactivity that structured regulatory processes have not yet been able to mediate.
Making Space in Reflective Practice: Emotional Pedagogy A shift in patterns of emotional responses was identified following the practice of making space, namely the provision of time to withdraw, calm oneself, and reduce emotional intensity in a structured manner.
They demonstrated a tendency to remain silent for a moment, withdraw, write, and draw before speaking about events that triggered their emotions.
These findings also highlight a habituation pattern in children's use of the i-message technique, focusing on validating emotions and personal needs, which may foster more positive and empathetic communication and reduce defensive 19 One child (C.
recounted, "When I am angry.
I choose to remain silent In contrast, another child (C.
expressed that when feeling upset, he preferred to express his emotions privately through writing or drawing rather than speaking Studies indicate that the ability to delay responses is correlated with higher levels of self-control and lower tendencies toward aggression among school-aged Critically, this is understood as a form of adaptive regulation that does not entail negative psychological consequences, provided that meaning-making processes and Jakub Hladik et al.
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21 Furthermore, the tendency to draw and write indicates the symbolization of emotions, which helps individuals reorganize emotional experiences and reduce affective distress.
22 A caregiver (T.
stated that these changes began to appear after children were provided with alternative ways of expressing emotions in a more directed manner, "when feeling angry, uncomfortable, or having a problem with a friend, releasing emotions does not have to mean crying immediately.
one can calm down first, or write, and then share the story with a caregiver or a trusted The caregiver's role as a facilitator underscores the importance of regulatory support from adults in the development of executive functions and impulse control.
This statement also indicates that the practice of making space is facilitated through deliberate pedagogical guidance.
In line with contemporary developments in emotion regulation theory, the findings on the practice of making space in the Islamic Boarding School represent a form of attentional deployment.
This attentional redirection strategy reduces the intensity of arousal before a behavioral response emerges.
However, making space within the Islamic Boarding School context appears to be a socially legitimized regulatory practice, facilitated by caregivers and embedded as a valid, normatively supported strategy within the structure of boarding life.
Caregivers consciously support this process by refraining from direct intervention or immediate corrective action when children's emotions remain at high intensity.
They allow children to pause by playing with peers, engaging in free movement, or withdrawing until they appear more emotionally settled.
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Making Space in Reflective Pratice as an Emotional Pedagogy that emphasizes the importance of integrating emotion regulation mechanisms and reflective practices into institutional policies.
In addition to the interpersonal level, the structure of daily activities also provides a reflective space that is separate from immediate emotional dynamics.
Collective reflection, conducted on a scheduled basis at 4 pm, serves as a temporal space that enables children to process emotional experiences and behaviors in a calmer, more directed manner through interactive dialogue.
The forum invites children to reflect, "What good deeds have been done today?" and "Are there any mistakes that remain unresolved?" (T.
This collective reflective activity demonstrates that emotional experiences are not merely remembered but reconstructed within a pedagogical framework that connects emotions, actions, and social responsibility, and is institutionally facilitated.
These findings offer a reading of emotion regulation that goes beyond an individual coping mechanism and considers psychological adaptability.
26 Reflective practices in the Islamic Boarding School are also enriched through a visual-reflective mechanism using the "positive tree" and the "negative tree".
The visual pedagogical mechanism in Figure 3 represents children's various emotions by transforming them from abstract experiences into collective visual forms and symbolically interpreting their daily actions.
Furthermore, this visualization serves as a pedagogical tool that externalizes affective experiences, thereby transforming emotional regulation into a publicly mediated moral practice.
A caregiver (T.
also emphasized, "We intentionally put up two large sheets of paper on the board, each with a picture of a tree.
The positive tree is for children's good achievements throughout the day, while the negative tree is for behaviors that are less appropriate or considered to violate the agreed-upon rules.
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3389/fpsyg.
Luise Pruessner and Catherine NM Ortner.
AuAdaptiveness of Emotion Regulation Flexibility According to Long-Term Implications,Ay Journal of Affective Disorders 379 .
: 1Ae9, https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman Vol.
, 2026
DOI: 10.
33367/ji.
Ika Wahyuningsih.
Aji Pangestu Figure 3.
Positive and Negative Tree (Source: Field Documentatio.
The practice of making space (Figure .
within the context of the children's Islamic Boarding School appears to be part of a programmed, facilitated reflective Children are not directed to suppress or terminate emerging emotional conflicts rather, they are given space to process them before engaging in reflective These findings indicate that the structure of daily activities in the Islamic Boarding School functions as a pedagogical mechanism that integrates emotion regulation into the rhythm of communal life.
Through a temporal pause between emotional experiences and collective reflection, the Islamic Boarding School provides psychological conditions that enable more mature cognitive and moral processing.
Thus, emotion regulation does not occur solely at the level of spontaneous interpersonal interaction, but is institutionalized through temporal structures and collective dialogue as part of everyday pedagogy.
Figure 4.
Collective Reflection (Source: Field Documentatio.
Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman Vol.
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DOI: 10.
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Making Space in Reflective Pratice as an Emotional Pedagogy From Impulsive Reactivity to Reflective Deliberation After making space for processing emotional conflicts and engaging in structured reflective activities, improvements in children's emotion regulation capacities were observed.
Caregivers noted that the children were "more able to control themselves" and no longer automatically discharged impulsive emotions when triggers These changes were evident not only in the context of peer relational tensions but also in children's broader adaptation to boarding life.
A caregiver (T.
stated, "At the beginning of their time in the Islamic Boarding School, several children frequently asked to go home because they still felt uncomfortable and had difficulty adapting.
however, this frequency decreased significantly, along with a reduction in the intensity of emotional symptoms.
" This acknowledgment underscores an increased capacity to tolerate discomfort and to regulate emotions.
These findings parallel quantitative studies on boarding students, indicating that emotion malleability beliefs, mediated by psychological resilience and the quality of peer relationships, are positively correlated with enhanced adaptive capacity.
Children's responses to violations of collective agreements also demonstrate a transformation in regulatory patterns.
In certain cases, the consequences of a violation initially elicited tantrum responses.
however, through a structured, reflective approach and joint reflection with parents, children became better prepared to accept the consequences and recommit to the shared agreements.
28 A caregiver (T.
explained, "A child who violates certain agreements, such as leaving the Islamic Boarding School without permission, will be suspended at home to reflect together with their parents, until the child is ready and willing to return to the Islamic Boarding School.
" In this regard, longitudinal studies also support that the quality of family co-regulation can enhance children's emotional stability and social behavior.
29 Overall, the changes are evident in a shift from reactive emotional response patterns toward more deliberative Children who previously responded directly when triggers emerged Yixuan Han et al.
AuThe Relationship Between Emotion Malleability Beliefs and School Adaptation of Middle School Boarders: A Chain Mediating Effect of Psychological Resilience and Peer Relationships,Ay Behavioral Sciences 15, no.
: 1444, https://doi.
org/10.
3390/bs15111444.
Karen De Raeymaecker and Monica Dhar.
AuThe Influence of Parents on Emotion Regulation in Middle Childhood:
Systematic Review,Ay Children .
https://doi.
org/10.
3390/children9081200.
Baocheng Pan et al.
AuParental Co-Parenting Quality.
ChildrenAos Emotion Regulation Abilities, and Prosocial Behavior,Ay BMC Psychology 13, no.
: 635, https://doi.
org/10.
1186/s40359-025-02947y.
Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman Vol.
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DOI: 10.
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Ika Wahyuningsih.
Aji Pangestu developed response patterns that involved pausing, processing, and considering before This shift signifies the development of more internalized emotion regulation capacities within the context of communal life in the Islamic Boarding School.
This practice further demonstrates that making space is not merely a situational practice but part of a pedagogical interaction design that consistently facilitates reflective pauses, coregulation, and the internalization of norms.
Thus, the findings indicate the presence of an emotion pedagogy in the Islamic Boarding School, namely an educational practice that consciously cultivates emotion regulation competencies through institutionalized mechanisms of collective reflection.
Conclusion The practice of making space within reflective activities constitutes part of an emotion pedagogy conceptualized in the daily lives of children in the Islamic Boarding School as a space for the production of reflective-deliberative emotional responses.
The identified sources of emotional triggers tend to involve peer relations and transitions in daily activities, leading to impulsive reactivity characterized by crying, anger, and harsh verbal expressions.
Making space appears as part of a pause awareness chosen by children in responding to emotional triggers by selecting momentary silence, withdrawal, writing, drawing, pausing play with peers, and engaging in free movement before articulating their emotions.
A shift is evident in patterns of emotional responses from reactive to more deliberative responses after being mediated by the practice of making space.
Although this study was conducted within the context of a single Islamic Boarding School, the findings indicate that structured, institutionalized emotion regulation practices have the potential to serve as a model for strengthening emotion pedagogy in Islamic Boarding Schools more broadly.
Therefore.
Islamic Boarding School may consider explicitly integrating emotion regulation into their pedagogical design, not merely as an implicit implication of religious value transmission, but as a competency developed through structured, programmed, and institutionally legitimized practices within boarding life.
Further research is recommended to expand the scope of inquiry through comparative and longitudinal studies, while also developing pedagogical models and structured instruments to examine and systematically integrate the practice of making space within pesantren education.
Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman Vol.
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DOI: 10.
33367/ji.
Making Space in Reflective Pratice as an Emotional Pedagogy References