The Individual and Society Vision in Religious Education
This research examines the human profile that formal religious education aims to educate
in terms of individual and society-centered ideological elements. In this context, the
main problem of the research is “What kind of a person do secondary education Religious
Culture and Moral Knowledge courses have the potential to raise in terms of individual
and society-centred ideologies?”. Accordingly, the aim of the research is to decipher the
human profile that secondary school DKAB courses aim to train in terms of individual
and society-centered ideological elements. Although there are various studies on the political
dimension of religious education in Turkey, there is no study that focuses on the
analysis of formal religious education through the classification of ideology. This situation
constitutes the original value of the research. Qualitative research methods were used
to find answers to the main problem of the study. In this context, the case study design
was used in the research; 2018 DKAB Curriculum, textbooks and DKAB teachers were
selected as data sources. In the research, document analysis and interview techniques
were used as data collection techniques. Checklists were used to collect data from the
curriculum and textbooks, and a semi-structured interview form was used to obtain teachers’
views. The findings were evaluated according to content analysis criteria and analyzed
under six themes: identity, authority, freedom, justice-equality, self-actualization,
epistemic approach, and critical thinking. As a result of the research, it was determined
that society-centred ideological elements were more dominant in the themes of identity
and authority, and individual-centred ideological elements were more dominant in the
themes of freedom, justice-equality, and self- actualization. In the context of the theme of
epistemic approach and critical thinking, unlike the other themes, it was revealed that individual
and society-centred ideological elements showed a more balanced distribution.
Keywords: Religious education; 2018 DKAB curriculum; textbooks; DKAB teachers; individual-
centred ideology; society-centred ideology