A Study of Religious Education Course Books in Terms of Values Education: The Case of Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate Elementary and Middle School Religious Culture and Ethics Coursebooks in terms of approaches, methods and techniques used in values education. The data of this study were obtained using the document review technique, which is one of the qualitative research data collection methods. The data in this study were obtained from the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade Religious Culture and Ethics Course books that were chosen to be teaching materials by decisions of The Turkish Republic Ministry of National Education, Board of Education and Morality. The data that were obtained as a result of document review were analyzed using the “Content Analysis” technique. According to the findings of the study, it is seen that values were attempted to be given to the students in Religious Culture and Ethics Course Books predominantly on the basis of direct training approach. In addition, value clarification approach, which allows students to explore and choose values of their own choice, was also tried to be utilized. Attempts were made to teach the values predominantly through reading passages based on knowledge and limited number of activities.