The Basis of Religious Education and
Instruction
Yıldız Kızılabdullah
Key Questions
1. Why do we need to find any basis for religious education and instruction?
2. What are the basis of RE?
Why do we need to find any basis for religious education and instruction?
• Because of the importance of education and RE for human being
• To find a response for this question: «Why do we need to teach about RE or why RE?
• To determine the content of goals, curriculum, instruction
process, and evaluation.
What are the basics of RE (Tosun, 2001 & Kizilabdullah and Yuruk, 2012)?
• Individual Basis
• Social Basis
• Cultural Basis
• Universal Basis
• Philosophical Basis
• Legal Basis
Individual Basis
• Does person need to believe?
• Does person need RE?
Social Basis
• Are the social and individual basis separate?
• Is it possible to live without society, in other words, is
there any life without the social world? (Emile and Hay
bin Yakzan)
Cultural Basis
• What is the culture?
• What are the components of culture?
Culture is;
• "Culture consists of the works of man."--"Culture consists of the achievements of man that are handed from one
generation to another.» «that complex whole which
includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and
any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society (Blumenthal, 1940; 572).»
In the concept of religious education;
• Cultural basis refers to adaptation to the culture. Because, religion, values, beliefs form the culture in different ways.
When a person has a good qualified religious education, he can develop the culture and transform it to the next generation.
• •We can find this aim in the general goals of education in Turkey. It says: the goal of national education in Turkey is to educate students as protector and developer of
national, moral, individual and cultural values of Turkish
Nation.
Universal Basis Key Questions:
• What is the universality?
• Does every culture universal also?
• How can we understand the universality in the concept of
religious education?
Philosophical Basis
• What is the relationship between philosophy and education, specifically RE?
• Is there any special field for this part?
We need to respond to these questions:
•
Which kind of knowledge and values students have to attain?•
Which kind of moral and aesthetic values should we make students get?•
What is education?•
What are the goals for education?•
Whom should be educated?•
What should be contained in the curriculum of education?•
What should we teach and in what extent?Legal Basis
• We need to explain this basis in the view of “right” and the legal process.
• Which acts can we express for religious education?
• The law on unification of education (Tevhid-i Tedrisat)
• The Constitution of Republic of Turkey (1982)
• International agreements
Article 24th of Constitution
•
“No one shall be compelled to worship, or to participate inreligious rites and ceremonies, or to reveal religious beliefs and convictions, or be blamed or accused because of his religious beliefs and convictions. Religious and moral education and
instruction shall be conducted under state supervision and control.
Instruction in religious culture and morals shall be one of the compulsory lessons in the curricula of primary and secondary
schools. Other religious education and instruction shall be subject to the individual’s own desire, and in the case of minors, to the
request of their legal representatives…”
Article (Tawheed el-Tadrisah) section 4 is as follows:
• “Ministry of National Education will set up a divinity
faculty at the university so as to educate senior specialists
in religious subjects and [also] open schools (Imam hatip
High Schools) to raise officials who can perform religious
duties like those performed by imams and preachers.”
Cited Resources
•
Tosun, C. (2001), Din Egitimi Bilimine Giris, Pegem A Yayincilik, Ankara.•
Kizilabdullah, Y & Yuruk, T (2012). Din Egitimi ve ÖgretimininTemelleri. Din Egitimi El Kitabı. Ed. Mustafa Koylu&Nurullah Altas.
Gunduz yayincilik. Ankara
•
Goldstein, J. L. (1957).On Defining Culture. AmericanAnthropologist, New Series, Vol. 59, No. 6, pp. 1075-1081
