This study presents a new theoretical and pedagogical framework based on the theories of Critical Religious Education (CRE), Variation Theory (VT) and the Learning Study model with the purpose of i...

Improving the Pedagogy of Islamic Religious Education through an Application of Critical Religious Education, Variation Theory and the Learning Study Model.

Education is one of the biggest problems experienced by developing societies. Education is has an important place in individuals’ lives since it allows them to prove themselves within their society and to maintain their future lives. Today, with the development of the Internet, education can be given via e-learning management systems designed on the web. E-learning is a type of education that can present information to its users via the Internet. In order to facilitate the use of e-learning systems and to make these systems more systematic, Learning Management Systems (LMSs) have appeared. LMSs are softwares that allow management of learning activities. During the application of e-learning management systems that can be designed in line with the desired curriculum, the feedback provided by students taking education via this platform play an important role in the success of the system. In this respect, the present study aimed at determining the attitudes of students attending Distance Education Theology Undergraduate Education Program at Dicle University towards e-learning. For this purpose, the five-point Likert-type scale of “Attitudes towards ICT skills and e-learning” developed by Haznedar [23] was applied to the students. The results of analysis of the data collected from the students participating in the study revealed no significant difference in relation to e-learning between the students’ gender, years of computer use, weekly Internet use time, their preferences of types of education, their foreign language, their foreign language proficiency levels, and their learning motivation preferences. In the study, a significant difference was found in relation to e-learning between the participants’ preferences of study methods.

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Attitudes of Students Taking Distance Education in Theology Undergraduate Education Program Towards E-Learning Management System.

The goal of education is not only making students intellectually or technically knowledgeable but also trains them in virtuous settings. This involves not only building upon the young person’s characteristics and socialization into the norms of society, but also some deliberate intervention in teaching and learning environments of home and school to encourage virtuous behaviour and ongoing moral development. Together with education included values of society, education is also a way of liberate persons from limitations and impositions of certain beliefs. Educators’ actions either maintain or challenge the dominant ideology should be conscious and aim to liberate pupils. The purpose of this study was to seek out the reasons why parents prefer religious based schools for their children in a secular, modern Turkish Republic in spite of the fact that there have been more academic high schools for university entrance. Also the values that parents hope schools to inject their children have been investigated throughout the study. To achieve this goal, it focuses on key concerns identified in literature associated with values and parental expectations, and discussed the current context in Turkey with reference to the process of de facto situation in the world. As a result, parents included in this study who preferred to send their children to Imam Hatip High Schools (IHHS) that are serving mostly religious courses have purposefully in need of religious courses for their children

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Parental Expectation and Religious Education in State Schools in Turkey: The Case of Imam Hatip High Schools.

The greatest challenge in the contemporary world today is living a virtuous life. Aristotle provides an approach of engaging children through habitual training in virtue in an organized educational system. Therefore, Education is crucial in orienting the young towards being responsible citizens to contribute to economic, social and political development of the state. In Kenya, educational system has focused all along in providing Religious Education of the mainstream Religions i.e. Christianity, Islam, Hindu towards attaining sound morals and religious values. However on assessing the products of 8.4.4 and critically examining the situations within the educational set up for instance: Indiscipline, Riots, Drug and substance use, arson, Teacher attacks by student, radicalization etc., there is need to critically question the goal of education in order provide insights that can inform the theory and practice of pedagogical ethic, student-teacher relationship with the aim of attaining holistic education and training for responsible citizenship. Thus, the paper analyzed the national goals of education, traced the philosophical assumptions on human nature towards achieving the goal, analyzed moral education and religious education. It is therefore recommended that education in Kenya should embrace a multidimensional orientation that ensures the moral development, intellectual growth and skill empowerment of learners towards self realization, an informed freedom and self empowerment to act responsibly as valuable citizens.

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Education towards Sound Moral Values and Religious Values in Kenya: A Philosophical Perspective

Values education is an open initiative in values development or actualization. Teachers are a natural part of this process. They strive to develop values in their students by expressing certain values within the pedagogical content and interpreting the educational program. They may play a variety of roles during values education. The characteristics of the adopted values education approach are important to determine the roles of teachers and students. The study reported in this book aimed to identify the approaches, methods and techniques preferred by 4th year pre-service teachers of Classroom Teaching from three state-run universities in Ankara, Turkey while they were designing values education activities, more specifically, activities to teach the value of being open minded. Following this, the methods, techniques and/or approaches used by these pre-service teachers were analyzed descriptively. Their preferences were found to be somewhat associated with the values education approaches known as “values clarification” and “inculcation”.

Values Education Preferences of Teacher Candidates

Dunya'da egitimin her boyutunda degerler ve egitimine yapilan vurgu son yillarda artmistir. Bu artistan din kulturu ve ahlak bilgisi dersleri de payini almaktadir. 2005 ve 2006 yillarinda ilk ve ortaogretimde yapilan program degisikliklerinde dersin tarihinde ilk defa olarak degerler ve egitimine aciktan vurgu yapildigi gorulmektedir. Ortaogretim programi her sinif icin degerler ogrenme alanina yer vermekte, her iki programin amaclari arasinda, egitimsel ve din bilimsel yaklasimlarin aciklanisinda degerlere temas edilmekte, ogrencilerin icsellestirmesi beklenen degerleri listelemekte ve degerler egitiminde kullanilabilecek yontemler onerilmektedir. Calismamizin amaci programlarin degerler ve egitimine yaklasimini, degerler egitimi icin onerdigi yontemleri ve din kulturu ve ahlak bilgisi ogretmenlerinin okullarda ve derslerindeki degerler egitimi uygulamalari ile ilgili goruslerini belirlemektir. Bu amacla Turkiye'nin farkli bolgelerinden secilen 25 ilde gorev yapan ogretmenlere anket uygulamasi yapilmis ve 774 anket degerlendirmede kullanilmistir. Ogretmenler degerler egitimi konusunda okul personeli arasinda yeterince isbirligi olmadigi, cevresel faktorlerin ve toplumda bireyselligin yayginlasmasinin olumsuz etkileri ile degerler egitiminin okullarda hak ettigi yeri bulamadigi yonunde kanaat belirtmistir. Ogretmenlerin degerler egitimi uygulamalarinda hem degerlerin dogrudan ogretimi hem de deger gerceklestirmeye yonelik teknikleri birlikte, yogun olarak kullandiklari belirlenmistir.

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Din Kültürü ve Ahlak Bilgisi Programları ve Öğretmenlerine Göre Değerler Eğitimi

Bu arastirma, yuksek din egitimi veren Ilahiyat Lisans Tamamlama (ILITAM) programinda gorev alan ogretim elemanlarinin ve ogrencilerin programin fonksiyonlarina ve uygulama sureclerinin kalitesine yonelik algilarini tespit etmeyi amaclamaktadir. Arastirma nicel ve nitel arastirma yontemlerinin bir arada kullanildigi karma modelle gerceklestirilmistir. Arastirmada ILITAM ogrencilerinin goruslerinin tespitinde anket teknigi, ogretim elemanlarinin goruslerinin belirlenmesinde ise yari yapilandirilmis mulakat teknigi kullanilmistir. Arastirmanin orneklemi 2012-2013 ogretim yilinda yedi farkli ILITAM programinin dorduncu sinifinda ogrenim goren 496 ogrencidir. Arastirmanin nitel bolumu icin calisma grubumuz ILITAM programlarinda gorevli yedi ogretim elemanindan olusmaktadir. Arastirma sonucunda ILITAM ogrencilerinin buyuk kisminin bu programda okumaktan tatmin olmadiklari, ogretim uyelerinin uzaktan egitim yeterliliklerini yeterli bulmadiklari, program iceriginden uygulamaya donuk din egitimi gibi derslerin cikarilmasini onaylamadiklari anlasilmistir. Arastirmanin belirledigi bir diger sonuc ise bilisim becerileri ve teknik altyapi yetersizlikleri ile kalabalik kontenjanlarin egitimin kalitesini olumsuz etkiledigi yonundedir.

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Paydaşlarına göre ilahiyat lisans tamamlama (İLİTAM) programının değerlendirilmesi

Bu calismada Ilahiyat Lisans Tamamlama (ILITAM) programi ozelinde uzaktan yuksek din egitiminin fonksiyonlari, imkâni ve orgun ilahiyat egitimine oranla verimliliginin arastirilmasi amaclanmistir. Arastirma anket ve mulakat teknikleri bir arada kullanilarak karma modelle gerceklestirilmistir. Arastirmanin nicel kisminin orneklemini ILITAM programinda okuyan 496, ilahiyat fakultelerinde okuyan 441 ogrenci olusturmustur. Nitel boyutun calisma grubunu ise ILITAM programinda gorevli 7 ogretim uyesi olusturmustur. Arastirma sonucunda ILITAM mezunlarinin orneklemde yer alan ogrenci ve ogretim elemanlari tarafindan Ilahiyat mezunlarina oranla daha az yeterli goruldukleri, uzaktan yuksek din egitiminin geleneksel egitime gore ikincil kabul edildigi ve ILITAM’in sagladigi imkânlar nedeni ile - orgun egitime alternatif olusturacak sekilde genellestirilmeden -varliginin devaminin gerekli goruldugu sonucuna ulasilmistir.

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İlahiyat Lisans Tamamlama Programının Verimliliği Üzerine Olgusal Bir Araştırma

This study aims to identify the approach of teaching curricula of primary courses of religious education and social studies values and to determine the weight of values found in these programs with regard to various aspects such as being open to novelty-conservatism, individualism-being social, nationalism-universalism, self-expansion-self transcendentalism. To do this, the general approach of these curricula to values has been identified based on the relevant literature and programs, values categories have been established based on Schwartz's values theory and the programs have been scanned with categorical contents analysis technique. The reason why Schwartz's values theory was taken as the basis of category formation is that this theory offers many resources to analyze the relationships between local and global values that are known to have taken place in recent years in our education. As a result, both of the curricula were found to indicate a tendency from local values towards universal values with the changes made in recent years, and social studies were found to be ahead of religious education in terms of reflecting these tendencies in the content of the program. Key Words Local-Universal Values in Education, Religious Education, Social Studies Programs, Schwartz's Values Theory. In order to set up a healthy future and for individual and society's happiness, the values that the individual has and the content of the values education that the individual has been subject to since childhood are very important. As a result of the appreciation of values in individual and society's life, The Ministry of Education has given a place to values education openly and systematically since 2003 (Milli Egitim Bakanligi (MEB), 2010a). In the 18th National Educational Council, various suggestions were offered as to what can be done regarding values on school basis and on a more general framework (MEB, 2010c). This study aims to identify the approach of teaching curricula of primary religious education and social studies to values and to determine the weight of values found in these programs with regard to various aspects such as being open to novelty-conservatism, individualism - being social, nationalism-universalism, self-expansion-self transcendentalism. Towards this end, values categories, formed based on Schwartz's (1992) values theory, were used. The reason why we used Schwartz's scale is that national-universal values that came out with the improvements in values field as a result of the effects of globalization in our education and society-oriented-individual-oriented values perceptions overlap to great extent with Schwartz's values categorization of being open to novelty-conservatism, individualism-being social self-expansion-self transcendentalism. Analysis of the programs based on Schwartz's theory will enable us to determine how should the arguments that have been experienced in our education with globalization such as "What values should be taught?" be reflected on programs. Values in Primary Curricula for Religious Education and Social Studies With globalization value relations in the modern society gain some new dimensions (Dogan, 2007). Education too gets its share from this situation with great intensity and education system in our country, like in many places in the world, becomes the focus of globalization-locality arguments (Arslan, 2007). Considering globalization and its effects on values, what kind of a values education should be given? How is it going to be possible to establish a balanced values education without sacrificing the society for the individual, or without sacrificing the individual for the society? The problems that emerged as a result of the inability to find a balance between the individual's freedom and the society have been criticized harshly in recent years (Lickona, 1991). The approach that has been suggested to provide this balance is the approach that argues for the need to combine global and local values in conformity (Keskin, 2008). …

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Values in the Curricula of Religious Education and Social Studies in Primary Schools in the Context of Local-Universal Dilemma*

It is argued that a traditional approach to religious education is not sufficient to meet the necessities of contemporary world. For this reason, pluralistic approaches to religious education receive a particular attention in the recent years. In line with the other school subjects, the curriculum of secondary religious education was changed in Turkey. It is stated that the new curriculum was prepared taking the constructivist learning theory into consideration. The new curriculum may be accepted as a response to the demand for change in religious education. In this article, the following three issues related to pluralism are examined in terms of the new religious education curriculum: (i) Religious education and constructivist approach, (ii) the teaching of Alawism and (iii) the teaching of non-Islamic religions. An analysis of the curriculum indicates that some improvements have been made in line with pluralism. Key Words New secondary curriculum, teaching Alawism, teaching other religions, constructivism, religious education Religious Education and Constructivist Learning Theory It is argued that consistent with the development in the pedagogy in the modern world the curriculum subjects in Turkish schools have been changed in line with constructivist learning theory in recent years. In this process, the new secondary curriculum for religious education together with other school subject claim that the curriculum has been developed taking constructivism into consideration, multiple intelligences, learner-centered learning, learner participation, and individual differences. The overview of the literature reveals that there is a lack of research pertaining how to implement the constructivist learning theory to religious education in schools. However, we can claim that pluralistic religious educational approaches such as interpretative and phenomenological are more supportive for constructivist learning than traditional denominational or confessional approaches to religious education. It is assumed that the following two points may lead to some problems when we are implementing constructivist learning in religious education. Firstly, the epistemological understanding of construction of knowledge in religion is mainly different from the assumption of subjective construction of constructivist learning theory. Secondly, the followers of a religion believe the existence of objective religious principles, faith, and so on beyond the interpretation of individual believer of the religion. This can cause in a contradiction with the constructivist principle of individual construction of knowledge. In the present article, it is suggested that the constructivist learning theory be used in the teaching of living dimension of religion (experience and practice by individual and society) rather than the doctrinal dimension in religious education. The examination of the new religious educational curriculum reveals that the curriculum exhibits some shortcomings pertaining to constructivist approach with providing emphasis on content-based tendency, the lack of importance for religious experience of students, and etc. Moreover, only touching upon religious diversity or trying to promote implicitly one type of Islamic understanding in Islam is a weak dimension of the curriculum from the constructivist point of view. With the present form, it can be argued that this curriculum is more similar to the behaviorist theory of learning rather than the constructivist theory of learning. It should also be noted that the implementation of constructivist approach to religious education, particularly in a society that has a high level of religiosity and less pluralistic from religious perspective is not without problems. For this reason, a particular attention should be given to the issue of relativism when we are presenting Islam. Grimmet (2000) provides the following pedagogical suggestions during the implementation of constructivist approach in religious education: The item of religious content is always brought into a dynamic relationship with critical thought which pupils undertake as situated or contextualized individuals. …

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Papers

Din Kültürü ve Ahlak Bilgisi Programları ve Öğretmenlerine Göre Değerler Eğitimi

Paydaşlarına göre ilahiyat lisans tamamlama (İLİTAM) programının değerlendirilmesi

İlahiyat Lisans Tamamlama Programının Verimliliği Üzerine Olgusal Bir Araştırma

Values in the Curricula of Religious Education and Social Studies in Primary Schools in the Context of Local-Universal Dilemma*

Pluralism and Constructivism in Turkish Religious Education: Evaluation of Recent Curriculum of Religious Culture and Ethical Knowledge Lesson