<![CDATA[This study aims to analyze the association between Raudhatul Athfal principals’ emotional intelligence and Merdeka Curriculum management practices in Islamic early childhood education institutions. Emotional intelligence is examined as a leadership characteristic that may support curriculum management activities, including planning, organizing, implementation, and monitoring. This study employed a non-experimental quantitative approach with an explanatory correlational design. Data were collected through theory-based four-point Likert questionnaires involving 39 Raudhatul Athfal principals in Serang City, Banten, whose institutions had implemented the Merdeka Curriculum. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, instrument quality testing, regression assumption testing, correlation analysis, and simple linear regression using SPSS 26. The findings indicate a strong positive association between principals’ emotional intelligence scores and curriculum-management practices scores. The statistical model showed a statistically significant association between the two variables; however, the findings should be interpreted as a statistical association within the observed sample rather than evidence of causal effects. The study contributes contextual empirical evidence regarding the relationship between emotional intelligence and curriculum management practices among Raudhatul Athfal principals implementing the Merdeka Curriculum. Practically, the findings suggest that leadership development programs may integrate curriculum-management competence with reflective leadership, emotional regulation, communication, and collaborative supervision.]]>
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