Religious education in turkey through the eyes of youth

Abstract

Religious education is one of the tools that society uses to educate new generations on religion via formal and informal institutions. Institutional education has an essential role in the process of young individuals’ identity development, including religious identity development. Using a qualitative methodology, this study aimed to explore Turkish youth’s perception of religious education they received via formal institutions in Turkey. Data were collected from a total of 34 (13 male, 21 female) Turkish youth from four universities, aged between 19 to25 years, through semi-structured interviews and analysed using the elements of grounded theory methodology. The analysis focused on the participants’ positive and negative attributes on the main categories of “school environment”, “religion courses” and the “teachers delivering religion courses”, in regards to their religious identity development process. The findings of the present study demonstrated that the quality of religious education in schools in terms of both content and educators may facilitate religious identity construction. The findings highlighted adequate religious education and a supportive school environment facilitating religious identity development can be used as a preventive factor for youth’s risky behaviour. Furthermore, characteristics and qualities of the teachers found to be significant elements in delivering religious education. Implications and recommendations are discussed in the light of recent findings.