Both Balm and Burden: Religiosity as a Double-Edged Resource in Learning Burnout at Indonesian Islamic Boarding Schools

Nurussakinah Daulay; Rusydi Ananda; Annisa Riftah Andreani

doi:10.32806/jf.v15i03.2374

Authors

Nurussakinah Daulay Pascasarjana UIN Sumatera Utara, Indonesia
Rusydi Ananda Pascasarjana UIN Sumatera Utara, Indonesia
Annisa Riftah Andreani Pascasarjana UIN Sumatera Utara, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32806/jf.v15i03.2374

Keywords:

learning burnout; religiosity; Islamic boarding school; demands-resources model.

Abstract

Studies on adolescent learning burnout draw mainly on a demands-resources lens that treats religiosity, when considered at all, as a protective resource, and most evidence on it comes from single-vantage-point, quantitative designs that leave burnout's lived, ecological texture unexamined. This qualitative study investigated how learning burnout is generated, mitigated, and managed within two Islamic "Plus" boarding senior high schools in Medan, Indonesia, drawing on convergent accounts from guidance counselors, dormitory supervisors, teachers, and students. Sixteen participants took part in semi-structured interviews, supplemented by document review and field observation; the analysis followed reflexive thematic analysis and the COREQ reporting standard. Findings showed that burnout arose from a compounded academic-religious load under an unbroken schedule, intensified by continuous peer comparison, parental expectation, and poor heat and sanitation conditions. Teachers mobilized relational and spiritual resources, but the same disciplinary authority that enforced dormitory rules bounded students' willingness to disclose distress. The most distinctive finding was that religiosity operated as a dual-function element: devotional practices that consoled students could also stigmatize their exhaustion as ingratitude or spiritual deficiency once they hardened into a performance standard. Students countered this through peer solidarity, reframing fatigue as human rather than a sign of weak faith. These findings extend the study's demands-resources model by showing that an internalized institutional ideal can migrate between the demand and resource functions, with implications for counseling practice, workload design, and teacher preparation in faith-based residential schools

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