Itqān and Achievement Goal Theory
Reorienting Learning in the Era of Indonesia’s Academic Competency Test (TKA)
Keywords:
achievement goal theory, Ibn Khaldūn, Tes Kemampuan Akademik, learning orientationAbstract
Purpose— This article examines how the Islamic ethical idea of itqān—careful, responsible, and high-quality completion of an entrusted act—can reorient students' learning purposes in Indonesia's Tes Kemampuan Akademik (TKA) era. It asks how itqān, read through Ibn Khaldūn's concept of malakah, can be placed in dialogue with achievement goal theory (AGT) without reducing either tradition to the other. The article contributes an explicitly Islamic account of learning orientation for a contemporary Indonesian assessment setting. By distinguishing itqān from perfectionism and malakah from mere repetition, it offers a non-reductive dialogue between Islamic educational philosophy and modern motivational theory.
Design/methods— The study is a conceptual literature review. Its corpus comprises primary Islamic educational thought, especially Ibn Khaldūn's Muqaddimah; peer-reviewed English- and Indonesian-language literature on itqān, malakah, intrinsic motivation, and AGT; and official Indonesian TKA policy documents. The sources were analyzed through thematic coding and conceptual comparison, focusing on purposes of learning, conceptions of competence, means of improvement, and the role of assessment.
Findings— The analysis yields an Itqān-Malakah Achievement Orientation framework. The framework proposes four core propositions: (1) mastery-oriented learning as disciplined cultivation of capability; (2) achievement located in both process quality and visible outcomes; (3) test performance as useful but secondary evidence; and (4) performance-approach goals ethically subordinated to learning, integrity, and social responsibility. The framework recommends mastery-oriented classroom structures, revision-based feedback, goal reflection, and assessment communication that prevents standardized scores from becoming students' sole measure of worth.
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