Kabiba, Ibrahim Bafadal, Maisyaroh, Teguh Triwiyanto
Despite extensive research on early childhood education, the domains of parent-teacher collaboration, Islamic parenting, and instructional leadership remain insufficiently explored. This study seeks to address this gap by examining how principals’ leadership fosters synergy within the Child Learning Program Based on Islamic Parenting (PABKI) at Al- Qalam Kindergarten in Indonesia. Employing a case study design, this research delves into the principal’s leadership practices in facilitating collaboration between teachers and parents within the Islamic Parenting-Based Children’s Learning Program (PABKI) at Al-Qalam Integrated Islamic Kindergarten in Indonesia. The study involved eight participants, comprising one principal, four teachers, and three parents, all of whom were actively engaged in core PABKI activities, such as morning talaqqi, parenting in a circle, and memorization submissions. The findings indicate that the principal’s leadership at Al-Qalam Islamic Kindergarten, in promoting collaboration between teachers and parents through the PABKI program, cultivates a prophetic-instructional leadership model that integrates spiritual role modeling, systemic management, and the consistent habituation of values. Theoretically, this study contributes to the theory of Islamic educational leadership by introducing the prophetic-instructional leadership model, which amalgamates spiritual values, systematic management, and collaboration between teachers and parents as co-learners. Practically, it is imperative for principals and teachers in Islamic early childhood education to develop regular programs such as morning talaqqi, circular parenting sessions, parent assemblies, and digital memorization submissions to foster teacher–parent collaboration. Discipline, supervision, and evaluation should be conducted through open, humanistic, and spiritually nuanced control rather than solely administrative control. © 2026, Malque Publishing. All rights reserved.
Department of Educational Management, Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia
