Secular Curriculum Research Articles

School Principalship Leadership and Management in Integrated Muslim Schools in South Africa: An Investigation

ABSTRACT This research focused on strategies for effective leadership and management in integrated Muslim schools. A qualitative approachwithin a phenomenological design was utilized to encapsulate qualitative data on the strategies for effective leadership and management in integrated Muslim schools. Non-probability sampling methods were employed, and in-depth, semi-structured interviews were used as the primary method to capture the data from the participants. The main findings from this research identified invaluable insights into the nature of integrated Muslim schools from a historical perspective, the governance, bodies of membership and registration of these schools and the existing leadership and management portfolio. The research established that the school principals presiding over leadership and management of integrated Muslim schools have a dichotomous portfolio of leadership and management, that is, the secular curriculum and the Islamic curriculum. Thus, they have dichotomous leadership and management tasks, primarily toward their employers and as a religious duty. Furthermore, it was established that these leadership and management duties are not detailed, which results in role ambiguity and overlapping between the leadership and management role on the one hand and the governance role of school principals on the other.

Contemporary obstacles in parenting Muslim children in Bangladeshi society: an analytical analysis

Bangladesh is a small country, but it has a sizable population, most of whom are Muslims. This nation faces numerous obstacles in a variety of areas. This article highlights the modern-day issues that children in Bangladesh confront. There is no denying the importance of education. We can be a good generation and thus a good country if we can nurture them properly. Nevertheless, there are some obstacles that stand in the way of this hoped-for optimism, particularly for the government. Present-day difficulties in Muslim children's education include the secular curriculum, poverty, intellectual conquest, cultural import, environment, and modern media.

The Integration Of Religious Values Into Sciences-Related Topic Toward Postmodernism Of Science In Islam

For a long time, Islam has a dichotomy tradition of science and religion. As a result of the Dutch colonialism, dual education and curriculum systems were born in Indonesia, namely the education system of the ministry of national education which was often considered as a secular curriculum and the education system of the ministry of religion which considered less in science aspect. The democratization era provides opportunity to synthesize them with the advent of Integrated Schools of Islam as an alternative. This research aims to find out how the integration of Islam values into science. The qualitative method is used as research methodology. The data were collected through observation, in-depth interview, and documentation. The result of the research reveals that the school not only teaches the science, but also the fact behind the fact. They integrate science and spiritual values of Islam. The integration is done by synthesizing two curriculums into one curriculum of Integrated Elementary School of Islam. It is a great effort towards the synthesis of postmodernism of science in Islam.

An Exploratory Study of Students’ Academic Entitlement in Arabic Culture and Religion Courses

Academic entitlement (AE) is the expectation of academic success without the recognition, exercised through thought and action, of personal responsibility for attaining that success. In the present exploratory study, we examined the extent to which AE is present in female college students enrolled in Arabic culture and religious courses at a Middle Eastern university with a secular curriculum. The study also examined whether AE accounted for poor course performance. Arabic culture and religious courses promote inner modesty. Such courses, however, exist in a society with contradictory values, with Islam and tribal traditions promoting modesty and unity while capitalistic forces promote immodesty and competition through unfettered marketing and consumption. Although evidence of AE was minimal, overall less endorsement of AE emerged as students moved from earlier to later courses, gaining academic experience. Specific aspects of AE were found to be related to lower course performance. The procedure of this study and its findings can serve as a roadmap to implement proactive interventions for students enrolled in such courses.

Challenges of Implementing Character Education Based on Islamic Values in the Independent Campus Learning Curriculum (MBKM)

Character education based on Islamic values ​​in the higher education curriculum is increasingly becoming an interesting topic of debate in contemporary education. This article aims to determine the challenges and opportunities faced in implementing character education based on Islamic values ​​in higher education, using qualitative methods through literature studies and searches. This research explores the concept of Islamic-based character education, analyzes the challenges faced in its implementation, and identifies opportunities to strengthen this approach in higher education curricula. The results of the analysis show that although there are various challenges, such as integrating Islamic values ​​into the secular curriculum, public perception of Islamic education, and limited resources, there are also significant opportunities, such as increasing awareness of the importance of character-based on Islamic values. education, support from Islamic educational institutions, and the important role of universities in shaping students' personalities and morals. These findings imply the need for a holistic and integrated approach to overcoming challenges and seizing opportunities to strengthen character education based on Islamic values ​​in higher education environments.

Integration of Islamic Concept in Teaching Biology in the University

This research entitled “Integration of Islamic Concept in Teaching Biology in the University”. Biological science that is taught in most learning institutions has been secular in nature. Almost all of the biological processes, theories and principles are taught without referring to Islamic concept. The teaching of Qur'an is separated from the teaching of Biological science. Thus, many Muslim students and teachers have kept on patronizing secular curriculum of the west. Hence, this research work spelled out the relevant and applicable Qur’anic verses to Biology, assessed why Biological teachings of Islam should be a part of the curriculum in the university, and determined the perception and level of awareness of the students and teachers on the relevance of certain Biological concept and Islamic context.
 This study was conducted at the Mindanao State University - Sulu. This research was both qualitative and quantitative since the findings were based on theories, Qur’anic verses, interviews and percentage computation.
 Based on the findings, there were many Qur-anic verses dealing with Biological sciences, and these verses were relevant and applicable to Biology. Specifically on sex determination which deals with the sex of organism. The verse is “He bestows female upon whom He wills, and bestows male upon He wills (Qur’an, 42:49), also, has He taken daughters out of what He has created, and He has selected for your son? (Qur’an, 43:16). And made of him two sexes, male and female (Qur’an, 75:39). Another, We have created you in pairs, male and female (Qur’an, 78:8). This verse is also relevant to the function of gene which determines the two contrasting traits. On order, a characteristic of life which refers to the organization and precise arrangement of structure of organism is related to this verse, Allah shaped and fashioned him in due proportion (Qur’an, 75:38). On adaptation in which the organism must undergo changes to survive. Verily! Allah will not change the good condition of organisms as long as they do not change themselves (Qur’an, 13:11). 
 Regarding perceptions and awareness, almost all the participants were aware and agreed on the relevance of Biological science to Islam. The results revealed that some of the Biological theories, principles and process are relevant and applicable to Qur’anic verses. However, the researcher recommended that there is a need for the Biological teaching of Islam to be part of the curriculum in the university in order to avoid confusion on Biological concept and Islamic context.
 The Holy Qur-an contain verses relevant and applicable to Biological concept. Most of the respondents have agreed and believed on both Biological and Islamic concepts as reflected on the findings above. Therefore, integration of Islamic concept in teaching Biology is necessary.

The Policy of the Russian Orthodox Church on International Labor Migrants: How the Public Role Collides with Preaching the Word

The authors’ objective was to find out how and why the approach of the Russian Orthodox Church to sociocultural adaptation of predominantly Muslim international labor migrants has evolved from its initial stage to now. Research methodology is based on a critical analysis of various sources, on observations, and archival materials. The adaptation program of the Church was advertised as a secular project pursuing the goal of peacekeeping because of a tacit agreement on mutual non-proselytisation between the basic faith-based communities in Russia. The initiative, launched in December 2012, had to merge adaptation courses of all dioceses into a nationwide network that then was expected to become part of an all-Russian system of preparation for language and culture tests. The Church also planned to open its own network of testing centrescenters for migrants. The authors emphasize that, although some of the diocesan courses were successful, the initiative deteriorated due to many external and internal factors. One of them was that diocesan courses have proven to be unattractive for labor migrants; their curriculum was too thick and overloaded with information about Russian culture and Orthodox Christianity, while Muslim labor migrants preferred to adapt to their new environment with a mediation of their own networks. It is suggested by the authors that the main cause of the project’s non-fulfillment was an intra-church cleavage between the enthusiasts of adaptation who convinced that diocesan courses must aim at spreading the Orthodox faith to foreign workers, including Muslims, and the church officials who promoted secular curriculum and forbade preaching Christianity to labor migrants.

Integration of Islamic Concept in Teaching Biology in the University

This research entitled “Integration of Islamic Concept in Teaching Biology in the University”. Biological science that is taught in most learning institutions has been secular in nature. Almost all of the biological processes, theories and principles are taught without referring to Islamic concept. The teaching of Qur'an is separated from the teaching of Biological science. Thus, many Muslim students and teachers have kept on patronizing secular curriculum of the west. Hence, this research work spelled out the relevant and applicable Qur’anic verses to Biology, assessed why Biological teachings of Islam should be a part of the curriculum in the university, and determined the perception and level of awareness of the students and teachers on the relevance of certain Biological concept and Islamic context. This study was conducted at the Mindanao State University - Sulu. This research was both qualitative and quantitative since the findings were based on theories, Qur’anic verses, interviews and percentage computation. Based on the findings, there were many Qur-anic verses dealing with Biological sciences, and these verses were relevant and applicable to Biology. Specifically on sex determination which deals with the sex of organism. The verse is “He bestows female upon whom He wills, and bestows male upon He wills (Qur’an, 42:49), also, has He taken daughters out of what He has created, and He has selected for your son? (Qur’an, 43:16). And made of him two sexes, male and female (Qur’an, 75:39). Another, We have created you in pairs, male and female (Qur’an, 78:8). This verse is also relevant to the function of gene which determines the two contrasting traits. On order, a characteristic of life which refers to the organization and precise arrangement of structure of organism is related to this verse, Allah shaped and fashioned him in due proportion (Qur’an, 75:38). On adaptation in which the organism must undergo changes to survive. Verily! Allah will not change the good condition of organisms as long as they do not change themselves (Qur’an, 13:11). Regarding perceptions and awareness, almost all the participants were aware and agreed on the relevance of Biological science to Islam. The results revealed that some of the Biological theories, principles and process are relevant and applicable to Qur’anic verses. However, the researcher recommended that there is a need for the Biological teaching of Islam to be part of the curriculum in the university in order to avoid confusion on Biological concept and Islamic context. The Holy Qur-an contain verses relevant and applicable to Biological concept. Most of the respondents have agreed and believed on both Biological and Islamic concepts as reflected on the findings above. Therefore, integration of Islamic concept in teaching Biology is necessary.

Comparison of Impact of Secular and Religious Education on Children’s Factuality Judgements and Problem Solving Strategies

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of religious education on Turkish children’s reality status judgements, reasoning processes and intercessory beliefs for problem solving. The participants consist of 51 children, 27 of whom are enrolled in a public kindergarten that provides secular education and 24 in private kindergarten that provides religious education in addition to a secular curriculum. Pre-Test-post-test design was utilised. When the children in the religious group encountered a problem that is almost impossible for them to solve with their own abilities, they tended to demand help from God more than the ones in the secular group did.

Mainstreaming Islamic Religious Education and Secular Education in Schools as Per the Kenyan Basic Education Act 2013

This paper is an attempt to harmonize the local Quranic schools, the Islamic schools (Madarasa) and the secular schools in Kenya. The article is based on existing literature review, the author’s personal experiences and opinions. It is felt that a change be made to integrate the three-parallel curricula. The curriculum of the Quranic and the Arabic schools can be accommodated into the secular curriculum to give time for the pupils for rest or play or do their homework adequately. The current system makes the child run from one school to another. This starts at the age of six and continues until the child completes primary school. This is strenuous for the child. It is hoped that the integrated approach will alleviate this problem. The child needs to be given a chance to interact with his \ her environment so that he \ she can react to it. It should be concerned with the intellectual, emotional, physical and social growth of the child. Keywords: Quranic Schools, integrated curriculum, secular education, colonial administration DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-27-10 Publication date :September 30 th 2019

Comparison of impact of religious and secular education on young children’s factuality judgments

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of religious education on Turkish children’s factuality judgments and reasoning processes. The participants consist of 55 young children, 25 of whom are enrolled in a public kindergarten that provides secular education and 30 in a private kindergarten that provides religious education in addition to a secular curriculum. During the study, teachers recite to each child the story about the Prophet Moses in which Moses performs a miraculous act. Following the story, the children respond to various questions designed to assess their judgments regarding the factuality of the events and the characters featured in the story and the reasoning behind their responses. The responses reveal that the majority of the children from the religious education group accept the miraculous act as a fact and explain it using religious reasoning. The study concludes that religious education effects children’s factuality judgments for religious texts.

The Gülen Movement in Turkey: The Politics of Islam, Science and Modernity

The Gülen Movement in Turkey: The Politics of Islam, Science and Modernity

De la educación religiosa a la educación laica en el currículum oficial de instrucción primaria en México (1821-1917)

The history of the curriculum is a window to observe the changes and permanences of the school and of the educational system as a whole and for understanding social transformations. The aim of this article is to explain how the curriculum of the primary school (Mexico of the nineteenth century) was changed from one centred on Catholic formation towards a secular curriculum. The school curriculum was one of the spearheads to build the state and society projects imagined by the different groups fighting for the control of power. I described how religious education was officially promoted, notwithstanding the political ups and downs that led to differentiate educational policies in federal systems and centralist regimes. Later, I explain how religious education was omitted from the official curriculum, replacing the space with courses of laic morals, with the consequent difficulty of introducing a new subject. Then I analyse how political circumstances led to a radicalization of liberal positions and to the prohibition not only of religious content, but also of symbols, rites and persons linked with religious vows. Finally, secular education, understood in a complex way, began to be demanded not only in public schools but also in private schools. Due to the nature of this article and the spatial limitations I have privileged the follow-up of the legislative history of education, based on primary sources and secondary sources for the understanding of the different contexts that determine this long journey.

Development of Teaching and Learning Materials (TLM) For Islamic Schools in Kenya: What Islamic Universities Can Do

This paper attempts to reveal how the Islamic schools in Kenya are beset by absence of relevant teaching and learning materials and the role Islamic universities can play to provide these materials. Madrasa in Kenya have played pivotal role in producing ulama and teachers of religion for more than a century before the advent of Western education on the shores of East Africa. Islamic Integrated schools on the other hand are recent phenomena that arose to mitigate the challenges posed by Western style education that leaves learners with no time to learn based Islamic sciences. The schools combine both the national secular curriculum and Islamic studies. While the national curriculum subjects have adequate teaching and learning materials developed by the Ministry of Education, the Islamic studies section of the schools face serious shortages of relevant textbooks that are aligned with the target curriculum. Different schools use different textbooks including some that were developed in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Eqypt, Yemen and Sudan. This paper argues that the absence of sufficient, curriculum specific teaching and learning resources in Islamic studies is constraining learning thus contributing to poor performance of students in the subjects. The study utilized qualitative approach to gather views across section of participants involved in Islamic education, on the quality and availability of relevant curriculum support materials and the role played by Islamic Universities in bridging the gap in the development and provision of these materials. Interviews, FGD, observation, and documentary analysis were used to collect data from students, teachers, head teachers, and MoE officials.

A private matter? Religious education and democracy in Indonesia and Israel

The article examines state-supported religious education and its consequences for civic attitudes in Indonesia and Israel, two democracies that grant religion a prominent place in the public sphere, particularly in education. The comparison reveals that while in Indonesia the state was able to gradually introduce a secular curriculum in religious schools and establish an accreditation system by which it could exert influence on the way religion is taught, in Israel, by contrast, state-funded religious schools over time became increasingly opposed to a mandatory ‘core curriculum’ of general studies. The comparison further suggests that in Indonesia the inclusion of a secular curriculum in religious schools in the 1970s should be seen as one of the factors promoting the production and dissemination of ‘rationalist approaches to religion’ and brought religious actors on board of democratisation, while in Israel the exclusion of a secular curriculum from religious schooling has undermined civic commitments among ultra-Orthodox Jewish citizens and as such weakened Israeli democracy. The article is based on public opinion data, data from the Ministries of Religion and Education, and court decisions in both countries.

A Survey of the Foundations of Liberalism Axiology and Its Implications for Education

The present study is an attempt to survey the foundation of liberalism axiology and its implications for education. To this end, educational viewpoints of liberal scholars including Locke, Smith, Hume, Kant, and Russell are examined along with an introduction to liberalism axiology. Additionally, the implications of liberalism for education from will be discussed from two viewpoints, 1) foundations of value system of education, and 2) education system goals. The results highlighted some of the foundations of liberalism axiology such as individualism, liberty, humanism, intellectualism, empiricism, scientism, law, modernism, epistemological pluralism, believe in achievement, tolerance, equality, and social justice. On the other hand, the value foundations of liberal education are rationality, autonomy, and equality of respect. Furthermore, among the liberal educational goals the most important ones include public education, civil education, applied and practical education, autonomous and liberal individuals, mental development, and expansion and promotion of secular curriculum. Such educational viewpoints, however, have attracted criticism regarding radical individualism, autonomy, ethical anarchism, and negligence of public interest.

Muslim Schools (Pondok) in the South of Thailand

This paper focuses on the ponoh/pondok Muslim schools of the south of Thailand. These schools, which are traditional institutions of religious learning and places of religious piety, have experienced conflict and contestations throughout the twentieth century. Pondok have been pulled by different modernizing forces including separatist violence. The paper concludes that the contestations and negotiations with the Thai government are about the development of the local Malay people's modern civic identity within Thailand. It suggests that the introduction of a secular curriculum has had (and still has) its benefits for empowering the Malay-speaking population by supplying them with the cultural tools to contest and civically negotiate their position, culture and heritage within the Kingdom. The paper also provides a history of these schools and their political relationship to the Thai government's policies and to separatist organizations, as well as an update of events relating to the schools during the recent period of separatist and counter-separatist activities.

The role of education in Sudan’s civil war

This article addresses the role that education plays in conflict, with specific reference to the civil war in Sudan. It analyses the ideological basis of the Sudanese government (GoS) during the civil war, with special reference to the role of religion and ethnicity. It shows how the primary education system was based on the Islamist ideology of the GoS, with limited consideration of the country’s various cultural and religious groups. It then discusses the political discourse of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the secular curriculum that SPLM’s Secretariat of Education produced during the war. It identifies differences between the Islamist and the secular educational discourses as one reason why many young people in the South took up arms against the Islamist government. With South Sudan now emerging as an independent nation, a dramatic improvement in the education sector is needed both to heal conflicts in South Sudan and to provide hope for the future to people in the South.

Teaching the Bible as a common culture

This essay discusses the teaching of Bible in the Israeli public school as reflected in the encounter between new immigrants and long-time Israelis during the two first decades of the state. The Israeli secular curriculum defines the study of the Bible as a prime agent of Zionist acculturation. This definition, however, was challenged by the arrival of new immigrants, pupils and teachers alike, who did not view the Bible – as it was taught in secular schools – as primarily a means of reinforcing the link between Jews and their land. For them, this conception had no resonance in the traditional cultures in which they had been reared, which perceived and taught the Bible as an important component in defining Jewish religious identity. The result was cultural interaction, which expressed itself in various ways. Some immigrants assimilated the prevalent secular view of the Bible, while others expressed reservation and continued to voice criticism. At the same time, there were non-immigrant teachers who adopted immigrant usages, for instance, men covering their heads during Bible lessons. But there was also interaction between teachers of varying background, and here the result was an amalgam, even a fruitful pluralism of approaches.

Head masters: phrenology, secular education, and nineteenth-century social thought

Head Masters challenges the assumption that phrenology - the study of the conformation of the skull as it relates to mental faculties and character - played only a minor and somewhat anecdotal role in the development of education. Stephen Tomlinson asserts instead that phrenology was a scientifically respectable theory of human nature, perhaps the first solid physiological psychology. He shows that the first phrenologists were among the most prominent scientists and intellectuals of their day, and that the concept was eagerly embraced by leading members of the New England medical community. Following its progression from European theorists Franz-Joseph Gall, Johan Gasper Spurzheim, and George Combe to Americans Horace Mann and Samuel Gridley Howe, Tomilson traces the origins of phrenological theory and examines how its basic principles of human classification, inheritance, and development provided a foundation for the progressive practices advocated by middle-class reformers such as Combe and Mann. He also elucidates the ways in which class, race, and gender stereotypes permeated 19th century thought and how popular views of nature, mind, and society supported a secular curriculum favoring the use of disciplinary practices based on physiology. This study ultimately offers a reconsideration of the ideas and theories that motivated education reformers such as Mann and Howe, and a reassessment of Combe, who, though hardly known by contemporary scholars, emerges as one of the most important and influential educators of the 19th century.