Relationships between Culture-Based School Programs, Students’ Attitudes, Students’ Engagement, and Spatial-Cultural Literacy in Geography Learning

Daffa Asyraf; Bigharta Bekti Susetyo; Zulfanita Dien Rizqiana; Dipo Caesario; Faiz Ramadhana Putra; Siti Khadijah

doi:10.37905/jgej.v7i2.36474

Relationships between Culture-Based School Programs, Students’ Attitudes, Students’ Engagement, and Spatial-Cultural Literacy in Geography Learning

Daffa Asyraf, Bigharta Bekti Susetyo, Zulfanita Dien Rizqiana, Dipo Caesario, Faiz Ramadhana Putra, Siti Khadijah

Abstract

The implementation of Javanese–Yogyakarta cultural values within formal education has been manifested through culture-based school programs, including their integration into geography subject. This investigates the structural relationships between culture-based school programs, students’ attitudes, students’ engagement in relation to spatial-cultural literacy. A quantitative survey design was employed using Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS). The population consisted of 201 tenth-grade students enrolled in the geography subject, with 178 students as research participants based on indicator adequacy criteria. The findings reveal that culture-based school programs do not exert a statistically significant direct effect on spatial-cultural literacy (p = 0.801). Similarly, students’ cultural attitudes show no significant influence (p = 0.575). In contrast, students’ engagement demonstrates a significant and positive contribution to spatial-cultural literacy (p = 0.001). These findings suggest that culture-based school programs have not yet made a substantial contribution to enhancing students’ spatial-cultural literacy. Meanwhile, students’ active involvement in various school activities emerges as the most influential factor in developing their understanding of the relationship between space and culture. Students’ cultural attitudes also do not show a significant effect. This study refines the conceptual linkage between culture-based school programs and spatial literacy by underscoring engagement as a mediating pedagogical mechanism in geography education. Overall, the results emphasize that engagement and contextual learning experiences are more effective in supporting the internalization of spatial-cultural values. Therefore, culture-based school programs need to be re-evaluated to ensure stronger integration with geography learning practices.

Keywords

culture-based schools; geography learning; spatial-cultural literacy; students’ attitudes; students’ engagement

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.37905/jgej.v7i2.36474