The Pedagogy of Transformation: Educating through Kingdom Parables - A Study at SD Negeri 095167 Simpang Bage

Abstract

This study investigates the pedagogy of transformation through the teaching of Kingdom parables at SD Negeri 095167 Simpang Bage, Simalungun. The research focuses on how the pedagogical competence of Christian Religious Education (CRE/PAK) teachers contributes to students’ transformative learning, particularly in internalizing Kingdom values. A quantitative descriptive-correlational design was employed involving 116 Christian students and 8 Christian teachers. Data were collected through Likert-scale questionnaires measuring teachers’ pedagogical competence and students’ transformative learning, as well as a cognitive test on Kingdom parables. The instruments were validated by experts and tested for reliability using Cronbach’s Alpha. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and simple regression. The findings reveal that the pedagogical competence of CRE teachers is in the high category, indicating strong performance in understanding learners, planning instruction, and facilitating classroom learning. Students’ cognitive understanding of Kingdom parables is also relatively high; however, their reflective internalization of Kingdom values is only moderate. Inferential analysis shows a significant positive relationship between teachers’ pedagogical competence and students’ transformative learning outcomes (r = 0.65, p < 0.05), with pedagogical competence contributing substantially to learning variance. The results suggest that while narrative transmission is effective, deeper transformative formation requires more participatory and reflective pedagogical strategies. The study concludes that strengthening pedagogical content knowledge, multimodal media use, and dialogical learning approaches is essential for enhancing transformative Christian education. Future research is recommended to explore ecological factors influencing faith formation through mixed-method and longitudinal designs.