PAI Teachers and the Phenomenon of Spiritual Quiet Quitting: A Study on the Decline of Students' Worship Motivation Amid Academic Curriculum Density
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24256/kharaj.v8i3.12049Keywords:
PAI teacher; spiritual quiet quitting; worship motivation; curriculum density; academic burnout; self-determination theoryAbstract
The transformation of academic curricula demanding intensive cross-disciplinary competencies has produced a density of learning agendas with implications for students' psychological and spiritual dimensions. This phenomenon gives rise to a condition conceptualized as "spiritual quiet quitting", a term borrowed from workplace literature describing students who continue to perform worship formally while losing inner engagement, devotion, and meaning. This study aims to conceptually examine the relationship between academic curriculum density and the decline of students' worship motivation, to identify the characteristics of spiritual quiet quitting, and to analyze the role and strategies of Islamic Religious Education (PAI) teachers in responding to it. The study employs a qualitative descriptive-analytical library research approach, drawing data from nationally and internationally indexed journal articles published between 2019 and 2026, analyzed through data reduction, display, and conclusion drawing following the Miles and Huberman model. The findings indicate that, viewed through the job demands-resources framework, curriculum density can function as a demand that depletes students' psychological resources when not balanced by supporting resources such as social support and adequate spiritual meaning-making. PAI teachers hold a crucial role through authentic exemplary conduct, affective-personal approaches grounded in fulfilling the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and reorienting the worship narrative from administrative obligation toward meaningful practice, as a preventive step against the spread of spiritual quiet quitting in school settings.
Keywords: PAI teacher; spiritual quiet quitting; worship motivation; curriculum density; academic burnout; self-determination theory
References
Agustin, M., & Hidayah, U. (2024). Optimalisasi pendidikan Islam dalam meningkatkan kesejahteraan mental serta mengurangi burnout di kalangan pelajar. Al-Qalam: Jurnal Kajian Islam dan Pendidikan, 16(2), 198–212. https://doi.org/10.47435/al-qalam.v16i1.3282
Ayu, P., Widiari, O., & Sugriwa, B. (2025). Makna quiet quitting bagi mahasiswa Generasi Z yang bekerja. RIGGS: Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Business.
Barus, M., Simanullang, M., & Amazihono, G. (2024). Menganalisis quiet quitting dalam dunia akademik: Faktor penyebab dan implikasinya bagi mahasiswa. Innovative: Journal of Social Science Research, 4(6).
Chirico, F., Sharma, M., Zaffina, S., & Magnavita, N. (2020). Spirituality and prayer on teacher stress and burnout in an Italian cohort: A pilot, before-after controlled study. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2933. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02933
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. Springer.
Fadli, A. (2025). Peran guru Pendidikan Agama Islam dalam meningkatkan minat belajar siswa pada mata pelajaran Pendidikan Agama Islam di Sekolah Menengah Pertama Dewantara Surabaya. Tarunaedu: Journal of Education and Learning, 3(1), 8–16. https://doi.org/10.54298/tarunaedu.v3i1.436
Fakultas Psikologi Universitas Islam Indonesia. (2026). Quiet quitting dalam perspektif etos kerja Islam. https://psychology.uii.ac.id/14806-2/
Fathoni, M., & Yuliani, Z. (2026). Analisis kebijakan Kurikulum Merdeka dalam meningkatkan kemandirian belajar siswa: Studi pustaka. Jurnal Basicedu, 10(4), 1494–1505. https://doi.org/10.31004/basicedu.v10i4.12779
Fatimah, E. W., & Suparman, M. F. (2025). Peran motivasi spiritual dalam meningkatkan ketahanan belajar siswa muslim di SD IT Ar Risalah Miri. AL-MUSTAQBAL: Jurnal Agama Islam.
Gallup. (2022). State of the global workplace 2022 report. Gallup Press.
Info Pendidikan BIC. (2026). Kurikulum Merdeka 2026: Beban guru dan krisis kualitas. https://infopendidikan.bic.id/kurikulum-merdeka-2026-beban-guru-kualitas-pembelajaran/
Kurniawan, R. Y. (2025). Quiet quitting: Tanda kemunduran etos kerja Gen Z? ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389490979
Listopad, I. W., Esch, T., & Michaelsen, M. M. (2021). An empirical investigation of the relationship between spirituality, work culture, and burnout: The need for an extended health and disease model. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 723884. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.723884
Maslach, C. (2003). Burnout: The cost of caring. Ishk.
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2000). The truth about burnout: How organizations cause personal stress and what to do about it. John Wiley & Sons.
Moffatt, S., Hanratty, B., Tang, E., Spiers, G. F., Kunonga, T. P., Whitehead, I. O., & Warwick, S. (2023). Systematic review of the relationship between burn-out and spiritual health in doctors. BMJ Open, 13(8), e068402. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-068402
Mubin, N., Basri, B., Nur, M. A., & Ma'ruf, R. A. (2025). Implementasi Kurikulum Merdeka pada Pendidikan Agama Islam untuk peningkatan mutu pembelajaran. JIIP - Jurnal Ilmiah Ilmu Pendidikan, 8(6), 6849–6858. https://doi.org/10.54371/jiip.v8i6.8568
Mustofa, A., Oktavia, V., & Himami, A. S. (2024). Problematika penerapan Kurikulum Merdeka dalam mata pelajaran Pendidikan Agama Islam. Irsyaduna: Jurnal Studi Kemahasiswaan, 3(3), 350–360. https://doi.org/10.54437/irsyaduna.v3i3.1350
Nakula. (2025). Pentingnya kedisiplinan di sekolah dasar terutama di kelas. Jurnal Nakula: Pusat Ilmu Pendidikan, Bahasa dan Ilmu Sosial, 3(5), 11–20. https://doi.org/10.61132/nakula.v3i5.2056
Nurjannah, R., Prasetyo, D., & Wulandari, S. (2026). Analisis pengaruh beban tugas akademik dan digital terhadap motivasi belajar siswa. Jurnal EduCendikia.
Pargament, K. I. (1997). The psychology of religion and coping: Theory, research, practice. Guilford Press.
Rosyada, A., Syahada, P., & Chanifudin, C. (2024). Kurikulum Merdeka: Dampak peningkatan beban administrasi guru terhadap efektivitas pembelajaran. Jurnal Inovasi, Evaluasi dan Pengembangan Pembelajaran (JIEPP), 4(2), 238–244. https://doi.org/10.54371/jiepp.v4i2.491
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.
Sari, L. R., & Muflihin, A. (2020). Peran guru PAI dalam meningkatkan kedisiplinan peserta didik di SMP Negeri 5 Demak. Prosiding Konferensi Ilmiah Mahasiswa UNISSULA (KIMU), 1(1), 66–75.
Sugiyono. (2022). Metode penelitian kuantitatif, kualitatif, dan R&D. Alfabeta.
Suparman, S., Arzani, M., & Eliyana, E. (2026). Peran guru PAI dalam meningkatkan hasil belajar anak pada mata pelajaran Agama Islam di kelas 5 SDN 1 Sambik Elen tahun pelajaran 2024–2025. Jurnal Ilmiah Wahana Pendidikan, 12(4).
Suyitno, Rukhmana, T., Nurmiati, A. S., Romadhon, F., Irawan, & Mokodenseho, S. (2023). Penerapan Kurikulum Merdeka sebagai upaya dalam mengatasi krisis pembelajaran (learning loss) pada mata pelajaran Pendidikan Agama Islam kelas X di SMA Negeri 12 Bandar Lampung. Journal on Education, 6(1), 3588–3600. https://doi.org/10.31004/joe.v6i1.3456
Ye, B., Zhou, X., Im, H., Liu, M., Wang, X. Q., & Yang, Q. (2021). Dikutip dalam kajian religious coping (RCOPE) dalam mengatasi burnout akademik mahasiswa Generasi Z. ResearchGate.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Citation Check
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Sesilia Marsya Nabila Zahara, Rice Putri Dia Utami, Muhammad Yasin Abdul Aziz Rantisi Nasution, Lety Febriana
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. In line with the license, authors are allowed to share and adapt the material. In addition, the material must be given appropriate credit, provided with a link to the license, and indicated if changes were made. If authors remix, transform or build upon the material, authors must distribute their contributions under the same license as the original.
