Reconceptualizing Civic Education in Indonesian Vocational Schools: a Critical Literacy Adaptation

Abstract

Pancasila education in vocational high schools (SMK) is often implemented normatively and focuses on shaping obedience, thus potentially producing graduates who are technically competent but have weak civic awareness. This conceptual article aims to reconstruct civic education through the adaptation of Critical Literacy theory enriched with Habermas' Communicative Action Theory. Using Jaakkola's theoretical adaptation approach, this study synthesizes the normative framework of Pancasila Education (Domain Theory) with the principles of critical literacy (Method Theory). The result is a conceptual model that transforms Pancasila Education from a doctrinal approach to an empowering approach. This model is operationalized through four main propositions: (1) using Pancasila as a critical lens to question dominant narratives, (2) analyzing vocational issues from a multi-stakeholder perspective with argumentative validity, (3) connecting personal problems with structural injustice, and (4) realizing mutual cooperation through vocational social projects. Implicitly, this model requires cross-curricular integration, dialogic pedagogy, and authentic assessment systems. This article concludes that the adaptation of critical literacy offers a new paradigm for aligning vocational competencies with critical citizenship capacities. To that end, further research is recommended to empirically test the effectiveness of this model, develop teaching materials, and explore its implementation in the context of digital literacy.