<![CDATA[Character education through school culture is one of the strategic efforts to instill positive values, attitudes, and behaviors in elementary school students. However, its implementation across various schools reveals differences in planning, strategies, and the challenges faced. These conditions indicate the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the implementation of character education based on school culture. This study aims to analyze the planning, strategies, and challenges of fostering character education through school culture in elementary schools in Indonesia. The literature selection process was conducted based on previously established inclusion and exclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria encompassed articles discussing character education, character education at the elementary school level, and the implementation of character education through school culture. In addition, the selected literature consisted of journal articles published between 2020 and 2026, were found to align with the research focus and were deemed relevant based on a review of their titles and abstracts. Based on this process, 50 sources deemed most relevant for the study were selected, consisting of 6 international journals, 41 national journals, and 3 books. Data were collected through documentation, while data analysis was conducted using content analysis to identify and interpret themes emerging from the various sources examined. The results of the study indicate that character education planning is carried out through curriculum integration, school management, the development of school culture, the alignment of vision and mission, educational policies, project-based learning, and the school environment approach, local wisdom, educational technology, and collaboration with parents and the community. The strategies employed include school routines and culture, teachers serving as role models, social interaction, social-emotional development, extracurricular activities, character education and literacy, bullying prevention, school-family collaboration, strengthening educational policies, and the utilization of local culture and multicultural education. The challenges faced in implementing character education stem from both internal and external factors within schools, such as disparities in school capacity, limited teacher competencies, inconsistencies in school culture, bullying, the development of digital technology, exposure to negative content, low parental involvement, weak collaboration among stakeholders, differences in sociocultural contexts, and misalignment within the educational ecosystem. These findings indicate that successfully instilling character education through school culture requires systematic planning, comprehensive strategies, and the school’s ability to adapt to various educational challenges in the modern era.]]>
