Democratic Education in Sasak Local Wisdom: Contextualizing Sangkep Beleq Values in Collaborative Learning

Abstract

Democratic education emphasizes not only a conceptual understanding of democracy but also social experiences through which individuals practice deliberation, participation, responsibility, and respect for differences. Local wisdom can provide a contextual resource for developing these values within learning. This study aims to explore the values of democratic education embedded in the Sangkep Beleq tradition of the Sasak community and analyze their potential contextualization in collaborative learning. A qualitative descriptive approach was employed in Pujut, Central Lombok. Five informants were purposively selected, representing customary leaders, religious leaders, youth leaders, pembayun (traditional spokespersons), and village government officials. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation and analyzed through data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The findings reveal that Sangkep Beleq embodies deliberation and consensus, togetherness and cooperation, shared responsibility, justice and wisdom, mutual respect, kinship, and social solidarity. These values are relevant to collaborative learning principles, particularly group decision-making, shared responsibility, cooperation, equitable participation, and respect for group members’ opinions. The study contributes to understanding Sangkep Beleq as a contextual resource that bridges local wisdom, democratic education, and collaborative learning. However, the study did not examine the direct implementation of these values in classroom settings; therefore, their effectiveness in developing students’ collaborative abilities requires further empirical investigation.