Paper Title
Implementation of Character Education in Secondary Education Level in Indonesia

Abstract
Improving national education quality must be started from character education since strengthening character education is the main foundation and spirit of education. This research aims to illustrate the implementation of character education in secondary education level in this case Junior High Schools in Indonesia mainly in Jabodetabek. Character values according to Ministry of Education and Culture have 18 values, namely religious, honesty tolerance, discipline, hard work, creative, independence, democratic, curiosity, nationality spirit, love the motherland, respect for achievement, friendly/ communicative, love peace, fond of reading, environmental friendly, social care and responsible. This research was conducted by mix method combining quantitative and qualitative research. Results of the research show that out of 30 research respondents, namely teachers in Junior High Schools in Jabodetabek, most of them have good understanding on definition of character. Out of 18 values, there are nine values according to the Ministry of Education and Culture are fostered at school as the places where the respondents teach, namely religious, discipline, honesty, independence, ethics/manners, illustrating values of friendly/ communicative, as well as social care of tolerance, fond of reading and love the motherland. However, other 9 character values are yet applied maximally. There is 76,7% of respondents inputting character values into curriculum by internalizing each subject, fostering characters and changing students’ behavior into good one, operating meaningful learning, teaching students to be individuals with ability to apply their knowledge in order to achieve goals of character building, growth and development based on rules and norms. School implements character education through special rules and programs involving intern parties such as peer tutoring, mentoring, or any programs involving extern parties. It is greatly necessary for parent involvement in fostering character values for students. However, there is 50% of parents giving response to the activities. Obstacles in the implementation of character education are students avoiding teachers, students’ different abilities in understanding character values, teachers’ background and students’ diverse culture, imbalance parents’ parenting namely different environment and community conditions with applied pattern by teachers at school. The solutions given to school party are by way of approach and cooperation with parents through meeting with parents, strengthening for each week with students, continuous socialization, special guidance for specific students and using religious approach. Keywords - Character Education, School, Parents