A Literature Review: Integrating Multicultural Values into the Love Curriculum

Abstract

Indonesia’s cultural, ethnic, racial, and religious diversity are both a valuable asset and a challenge in building a harmonious society. In this context, multicultural education serves as a strategic approach to foster inclusive, tolerant, and respect for differences. On the other hand, Love Curriculum initiated by the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs places values such as compassion, empathy, and responsibility as the foundation of character building for students. Although both share similar goals, the integration of multicultural education and the Love Curriculum has not been widely explored within a unified conceptual framework. This study aimed to explore the potential integration of multicultural education values into the Love Curriculum to strengthen the humanistic and inclusive dimensions of Islamic education. This research used is a literature review method, analyzing relevant sources on multicultural education theory, the Love Curriculum, and humanistic curriculum models. The findings showed that there is strong overlap of values between the two, including tolerance, empathy, appreciation of diversity, and social justice. Such integration is seen as a transformative approach to Curriculum development that emphasizes not only cognitive and spiritual aspects but also the emotional and social growth of students. This research provides both theoretical and practical contributions in designing Islamic education that is more responsive to the challenges of a pluralistic society and the character crisis among younger generations.