¹ Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia
² Universitas Pasir Pengaraian, Pasir Pengaraian, Riau, Indonesia

Ryan Prayogi
Roles: Conceptualization, Funding Acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Original Draft Preparation

Kokom Komalasari
Roles: Supervision, Validation, Writing – Review & Editing

Rahmat -
Roles: Data Curation, Investigation

Iim Siti Masyitoh
Roles: Investigation, Resources

Zindan Baynal Hubi
Roles: Investigation, Visualization

Muhammad Asriadi
Roles: Investigation, Software

Dwi Nanda Akhmad Romadhon
Roles: Formal Analysis, Writing – Review & Editing

The VCT framework, in its foundational formulation by Simon, Howe, and Kirschenbaum,¹⁰ conceptualizes value development as a three-stage process: choosing (selecting values freely from alternatives with full consideration of consequences), prizing (affirming and publicly committing to chosen values), and acting (translating values into consistent behavioral patterns). This tripartite model operationalizes values education as an active, reflective, and socially embedded process rather than a transmission of predetermined moral content.

Djahiri’s^5,6 adaptation of VCT for Indonesian PKn education introduced critical modifications suited to the Indonesian sociocultural context: the integration of local wisdom (kearifan lokal) as value sources, the incorporation of collective deliberation structures consistent with musyawarah traditions, and an explicit emphasis on the affective domain in civic value formation. Djahiri’s VCT model establishes a structured instructional cycle in which students encounter civic value dilemmas, engage in guided value analysis and clarification, participate in group deliberation, and formulate personal value commitments.

Crucially, Djahiri’s VCT emphasizes the inseparability of cognitive, affective, and conative dimensions in civic value formation. For civic skills development, this integration is theoretically significant: civic knowledge without affective commitment produces passive citizens who can recite democratic principles but fail to enact them; civic dispositions without knowledge produce unreflective conformism; civic participation without the preceding cognitive and affective foundations produces procedural compliance rather than authentic democratic engagement.

Tunjuk Ajar Melayu, as documented and synthesized by Tenas Effendy,⁷ constitutes the living ethical and pedagogical corpus of Malay adat (customary) culture. Literally meaning ‘The Teachings and Guidance of the Malay People,’ Tunjuk Ajar Melayu encompasses aphorisms (pantun), proverbs (pepatah), and narrative wisdom traditions that encode the moral foundations of Malay communal life: reciprocity, integrity, stewardship, and collective responsibility. For Malay communities in Riau Province, these wisdom traditions carry both cultural authority and affective resonance — they represent not merely historical artifacts but living moral frameworks that continue to shape communal norms and expectations.

The pedagogical relevance of Tunjuk Ajar Melayu for civic education rests on two complementary rationales. First, from the perspective of culturally responsive teaching,¹¹ integrating indigenous wisdom frameworks into formal instruction increases cultural congruence between students’ lifeworld and school knowledge, thereby enhancing affective engagement, value relevance, and identity-affirming learning experiences. Second, from the perspective of civic education theory,^12,13 civic dispositions are most effectively developed when the values being cultivated are experienced as authentic and culturally meaningful rather than externally imposed — a condition that Tunjuk Ajar Melayu, as an organic expression of Malay civic culture, is uniquely positioned to fulfill within Riau Province schools. The integration of local wisdom in civic education has been theoretically advocated^14,15 and empirically supported in other Indonesian cultural contexts.^14,15

The tripartite civic skills framework elaborated by Branson¹ and institutionalized through the Center for Civic Education’s¹³ foundational documents defines civic knowledge as the understanding of democratic institutions, constitutional principles, civic rights and responsibilities, and the mechanisms of political participation. Civic dispositions encompass the internalized values, motivational orientations, and character traits — including respect for the rule of law, personal responsibility, and commitment to democratic participation — that support effective citizenship. Civic participation competencies refer to the procedural and communicative skills required for actual engagement in civic and political processes, including deliberation, advocacy, and collaborative problem-solving.

Existing measurement instruments for civic skills in the Indonesian secondary context are predominantly adapted from international frameworks without sufficient contextualization to local sociocultural and political realities. The absence of a validated, Riau-specific civic skills instrument that incorporates the Malay cultural dimension of civic competence constitutes a methodological gap addressed in the present study through the development of the CSS-RSS.

The ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) model provides a systematic and iterative framework for instructional product development that maintains rigorous alignment between learner needs, instructional objectives, content design, and evaluation criteria.^8,9 Its iterative structure — in which each phase informs subsequent phases and allows recursive refinement — is particularly appropriate for culturally situated instructional products such as VCT-TAM, where the adequacy of cultural integration requires expert validation before implementation.^16,17

This study employed a research and development (R&D) design operationalized through the ADDIE model, combined with a quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test control group design to evaluate effectiveness. The R&D component addressed the development and validation phases; the quasi-experimental component addressed effectiveness evaluation. This dual-design approach is consistent with established practice in Indonesian educational product development research.^9,16

The study population comprised Grade XI students enrolled in senior high schools (SMA/MA) in Riau Province with a substantial Malay cultural population. Purposive sampling was employed to select four schools in Rokan Hulu Regency that met the following criteria: (a) predominantly Malay student population, (b) standard PKn curriculum implementation, and (c) school administration agreement to participate in the full ADDIE development and implementation cycle. A total of 140 Grade XI students participated: 70 in the experimental condition (VCT-TAM instruction) and 70 in the control condition (standard PKn instruction). An additional 90 students from two non-experimental schools participated in the instrument calibration sample for CSS-RSS development.

Development followed the five ADDIE phases. In the Analysis phase, a needs assessment was conducted through PKn curriculum document analysis aligned with Permendikbud No. 37/2018, classroom observation across four schools, student civic skills pre-screening, and semi-structured interviews with PKn teachers and cultural informants knowledgeable in Tunjuk Ajar Melayu traditions.

The Design phase produced a conceptual blueprint of the VCT-TAM model, specifying a three-phase instructional cycle: (1) Value Elicitation, in which students encounter civic dilemmas framed through Tunjuk Ajar Melayu pantun and proverbs and are guided to articulate their initial value positions; (2) Cultural Grounding, in which small-group deliberation uses Malay adat principles as analytical frameworks for evaluating civic value claims; and (3) Civic Application, in which students translate clarified civic values into planned participatory actions in their immediate community context.

In the Development phase, instructional materials were produced including: (a) a VCT-TAM Model Guide for teachers detailing facilitator moves, dialogue protocols, and value analysis procedures; (b) six Tunjuk Ajar Melayu-based civic value scenario sets covering the key PKn competency areas; (c) student worksheets for each instructional phase; and (d) an assessment rubric aligned with the CSS-RSS subscales. All materials underwent iterative review by content experts (PKn curriculum specialists), cultural experts (Tunjuk Ajar Melayu scholars), and instructional design experts prior to validation.

Civic skills were assessed using the Civic Skills Scale for Riau Secondary Students (CSS-RSS), developed and validated specifically for this study. The CSS-RSS comprises 30 items distributed across the three civic skill dimensions (10 items per subscale) using a 4-point Likert format. Instrument development followed an evidence-centered design approach: items were derived from the Branson¹ civic skills framework adapted for Riau Malay cultural context, reviewed by a panel of PKn content experts and Malay cultural scholars, refined through cognitive interviews, and calibrated on a separate sample (n = 90). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the calibration sample yielded acceptable fit (CFI = .93; RMSEA = .056; SRMR = .061), supporting the three-factor structure. Internal consistency was satisfactory across subscales (Civic Knowledge: α = .84; Civic Dispositions: α = .87; Civic Participation: α = .82).

VCT-TAM model validity was assessed using a 5-domain expert rating scale (0–4) covering: (1) theoretical soundness of VCT-TAM conceptual framework; (2) alignment of Tunjuk Ajar Melayu sources with PKn competency standards; (3) pedagogical feasibility; (4) cultural accuracy of Malay wisdom integration; and (5) assessment alignment. Four content experts (PKn curriculum specialists with ≥10 years’ experience) and three instructional design experts independently rated all model components. Mean ratings were classified against a four-point scale: < 2.00 = poor; 2.00–2.99 = fair; 3.00–3.49 = good; 3.50–4.00 = excellent.

Expert validity data were analyzed descriptively (mean, SD, and classification against a four-point scale: < 2.00 = poor; 2.00–2.99 = fair; 3.00–3.49 = good; 3.50–4.00 = excellent). Intervention effectiveness was evaluated using ANCOVA with pre-test CSS-RSS scores as the covariate, group (experimental/control) as the fixed factor, and post-test CSS-RSS scores as the dependent variable. Effect sizes were computed as partial η² (for ANCOVA) and Cohen’s d (for pre-post within-group and between-group comparisons). All analyses were conducted in SPSS version 26. Statistical significance threshold was set at α = .05. Homogeneity of regression slopes was verified prior to ANCOVA as a prerequisite assumption.

Expert validation of the VCT-TAM model yielded mean ratings in the ‘excellent’ classification across all content and media domains ( Table 1). Overall content validity M = 3.79/4.00 (SD = 0.30) and overall media/instructional design validity M = 3.74/4.00 (SD = 0.29). The highest-rated content domain was cultural accuracy of Malay wisdom integration (M = 3.82), indicating that the process of sourcing and mapping Tunjuk Ajar Melayu materials onto PKn competency standards was judged as culturally authentic and curricular coherent. The lowest-rated content domain was PKn–Tunjuk Ajar Melayu content alignment (M = 3.78), reflecting expert feedback that certain competency-wisdom mappings required further iterative refinement.

ANCOVA results confirmed a significant effect of VCT-TAM instruction on post-test civic skills scores after controlling for pre-test performance (F(1, 137) = 52.14, p < .001, partial η² = .28; Table 2). The experimental group demonstrated a substantial pre-to-post improvement (pre M = 52.43, SD = 8.61; post M = 74.17, SD = 7.38; d = 0.82, 95% CI [0.52, 1.12]) compared to a negligible change in the control group (pre M = 52.11, SD = 8.45; post M = 53.74, SD = 8.52; d = 0.19, 95% CI [−0.09, 0.47]). The pre-test equivalence of groups (difference < 0.4 scale points) supports the adequacy of group comparability under the quasi-experimental design.

Subscale-level ANCOVA results ( Table 3) revealed differential responsiveness across the three civic skill dimensions, consistent with the theoretical expectation that VCT-TAM’s affective emphasis would produce the largest gains in civic dispositions. Effect sizes were: civic dispositions (d = 0.88, η² = .31), civic participation (d = 0.76, η² = .24), and civic knowledge (d = 0.71, η² = .20). All subscale ANCOVA F values were statistically significant (all p < .001), indicating that VCT-TAM instruction produced systematic gains across all three civic skill dimensions, not only the affectively oriented dispositions subscale.

The consistently excellent expert validity ratings across both content and instructional design domains confirm that the VCT-TAM model achieves the first criterion for a theoretically defensible R&D contribution: the developed product must meet rigorous validity standards before its effectiveness can be meaningfully evaluated.^8,9 The particular strength of cultural accuracy ratings (M = 3.82) suggests that the process of sourcing value scenarios from Tenas Effendy’s⁷ Tunjuk Ajar Melayu corpus and mapping them systematically onto PKn competency standards produced an instructionally coherent and culturally authentic integration — a non-trivial achievement given the risk of superficial or tokenistic incorporation of local wisdom elements into formal curricula.^11,15 The slightly lower rating for PKn–Tunjuk Ajar Melayu alignment (M = 3.78) points to a methodological lesson: the competency mapping process requires iterative expert review to ensure that each Tunjuk Ajar Melayu source is linked not merely to thematic overlap but to specific learning indicators in the national curriculum framework.

The substantial overall effect of VCT-TAM on civic skills (d = 0.82) is theoretically explicable through three complementary mechanisms, though this study’s design — as a product effectiveness evaluation rather than a mechanistic experiment — cannot causally isolate which mechanism operates most strongly. First, the Value Elicitation phase operationalizes Djahiri’s⁶ ‘choosing’ stage by requiring students to actively articulate and defend their value positions in the context of culturally familiar civic dilemmas, thereby activating metacognitive awareness of civic values rather than passive reception. Second, the Cultural Grounding phase instantiates situated cognition¹⁸ by embedding civic value analysis within Malay adat narratives that students recognize as epistemically valid — a condition under which affective engagement and value internalization are theoretically more probable.¹¹ Third, the Civic Application phase provides structured behavioral rehearsal that develops the procedural dimension of civic participation competence, addressing the implementation-intention gap that limits civic knowledge’s translation into participatory behavior.

The differential subscale effects — with civic dispositions (d = 0.88) exceeding civic participation (d = 0.76) and civic knowledge (d = 0.71) — are theoretically consistent with VCT’s established strength in affective domain outcomes^5,6,19 and with the cultural relevance hypothesis: when students encounter civic values through indigenous wisdom frameworks that carry cultural authority within their lifeworld (Malay adat and pantun), the affective resonance of those values is heightened, producing stronger dispositional commitment than cognitively delivered civic information can achieve. This finding extends Gay’s¹¹ culturally responsive teaching theory — previously applied primarily in language, literacy, and social science education in Western multicultural contexts — to the domain of civic education in an Indonesian provincial context, suggesting that cultural grounding of VCT instruction is not merely motivationally advantageous but constitutes a substantive pedagogical mechanism for civic disposition development.

Comparable civic education studies in the Indonesian context have reported effect sizes in the range d = 0.40–0.70 for value-based interventions without explicit cultural grounding,^20,21 suggesting that the integration of Tunjuk Ajar Melayu may provide an incremental contribution to intervention potency — though this inference remains tentative without a controlled comparison between standard VCT and VCT-TAM conditions.

Three methodological limitations constrain the inferential scope of the present findings. First, the quasi-experimental design with purposive school selection limits the external validity of the effectiveness findings; random assignment of schools and a larger sample across multiple districts within Riau Province are required before generalizing to the regional population. Second, the calibration sample for CFA (n = 90) is below the recommended heuristic of 5–10 participants per item for a 30-item instrument, meaning that the psychometric properties of the CSS-RSS should be treated as preliminary; a confirmatory replication study with n ≥ 200 is warranted. Third, the study cannot empirically differentiate the relative contribution of VCT as pedagogy versus Tunjuk Ajar Melayu as cultural content to the observed civic skill gains — a mechanistic distinction requiring a four-condition design (standard instruction, standard VCT, cultural content alone, and VCT-TAM). Future research should also examine whether the VCT-TAM effects are maintained at a delayed post-test (e.g., three months post-intervention), whether they generalize to non-Malay students in ethnically diverse Riau classrooms, and how VCT-TAM can be adapted for digital and hybrid learning environments increasingly prevalent in post-pandemic Indonesian schools.

• • Ryan Prayogi: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Funding Acquisition, Project Administration, Writing – Original Draft Preparation

• • Kokom Komalasari: Supervision, Validation, Writing – Review & Editing

• • Rahmat: Investigation, Data Curation

• • Iim Siti Masyitoh: Investigation, Resources

• • Zindan Baynal Hubi: Investigation, Visualization

• • Muhammad Asriadi: Investigation, Software

• • Dwi Nanda Akhmad Romadhon: Formal Analysis, Writing – Review & Editing

The authors thank the participating schools, students, PKn teachers, and Tunjuk Ajar Melayu cultural experts in Rokan Hulu Regency, Riau Province, for their cooperation and contributions to this research. The authors also acknowledge the use of generative artificial intelligence tools for language assistance in manuscript preparation; all research design, data interpretation, and scientific conclusions are exclusively the responsibility of the named authors.

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