Peran Kepemimpinan Kepala Madrasah dalam Mengembangkan Pendidikan Karakter di MTs Negeri 2 Lombok Timur

Madrasa as educational institutions with religious characteristics (Islam) aim to produce student outputs with character (akhlakul karimah). Educators or teachers are the spearhead in the formation of the character of students, and the head of madrasah has a very important role in developing character education, especially in mobilizing and coordinating all existing potential and educational resources. Character education is an effort to help the mental development of students both physically and mentally from their natural nature towards a better direction. This research aim to: 1) analyze the role of the principal in developing character education, 2) describe the implementation of character education, and 3) describe the values of character education developed. The type of research used is a qualitative research with a descriptive design. This research was conducted at MTs Negeri 2 Lombok Timur. Data analysis is carried out interactively and takes place continuously until it is complete so that the data is saturated. Activities in data analysis using the Miles and Huberman model are data reduction (data reduction), data presentation (data display), and conclusion drawing (verification). The results of this study indicate that: 1) the role of the madrasah principal in developing character education at MTs Negeri 2 Lombok Timur, namely: (a) the madrasa principal as a character education program developer (Manager), (b) the madrasa head as a character education program leader, (c) the head of the madrasa as a character education coach (Educator), (d) the head of the madrasa as a role model in the application of character education (Modelling), and (e) the head of the madrasa as a liaison to parents and the community (Connector). 2) the implementation of character education at MTs Negeri 2 Lombok Timur is carried out through: (a) integration in madrasa management, (b) integration in learning activities, (c) integration through extracurricular development, (d) integration in daily activities in madrasas. 3) Of the 18 character values according to the Ministry of National Education, there are six character values developed at MTs Negeri Lombok Timur, namely: (1) religious, (2) honest, (3) disciplined, (4) environmental care, (5) social care and, (6) responsibility.