From Compliance to Partnership: Rethinking 7KAIH Implementation in Family–School Collaboration

Abstract

This study examines the implementation of the Seven Habits of Great Indonesian Children (7KAIH) program in early childhood education through the perspective of home–school partnerships. Using a qualitative case study approach, the research was conducted at a private early childhood education institution in Garut Regency, West Java, Indonesia. Data were collected through online questionnaires completed by 14 parents and 23 monthly parental reports documenting children’s habituation practices at home. The data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to explore parents’ perceptions, experiences, and involvement in implementing the program within family contexts. The findings show that parents generally had highly positive perceptions of the 7KAIH program and considered it beneficial for children’s character development. However, positive acceptance did not always result in consistent implementation in daily life. Variations in parental involvement were influenced by situational factors such as work demands, household conditions, time limitations, parental fatigue, and the quality of communication with schools. The study also found that reporting mechanisms functioned ambivalently as both reflective spaces and instruments of institutional control. In many cases, reporting shifted into symbolic administrative compliance rather than meaningful reflection on children’s development. Drawing on Heckhausen’s action regulation perspective, the findings indicate a gap between motivational acceptance and volitional consistency in maintaining habituation practices. Furthermore, the study highlights that effective implementation of habituation programs depends not only on program design but also on the quality of trust-based and adaptive home–school partnerships. The study concludes that transformational school leadership is essential in developing humane, reflective, flexible, and context-sensitive partnership cultures. Habituation programs should be integrated realistically into family routines through approaches such as habit stacking so that character formation can develop gradually and sustainably within everyday family life.