Evaluation of secondary education religious culture and ethics curriculum in terms of skill-based moral education

The aim of the study is to examine the possibility of skills-based education in moral education and the position of skills-based education and moral skills in the Religious Culture and Ethics curriculum and textbooks in terms of activities, questions and teachers' opinions. The study was conducted as a qualitative research and document analysis was used to see what the curriculum and textbook contain about skills-based moral education and moral skills, and interview method was used to reach teachers' views on skills-based moral education. In the document analysis part, data were obtained from 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade Religious Culture and Ethics textbooks and secondary education Religious Culture and Ethics curriculum. At each grade level, a unit related to moral skills was selected and the preparatory studies, activities and evaluation studies of the units were examined. After the document review, interviews were conducted with the Religious Culture and Ethics teachers who had the opportunity to gain experience on the subject in the field and the participants consisted of 11 Religious Culture and Ethics teachers teaching at the secondary level. Descriptive analysis technique was used to analyze the data. In terms of moral skills in document analysis, themes and codes created by Meydan with reference to the skills-based moral education model were used. Interviews were analyzed according to the categories and themes prepared. As a result of the research, it was seen that the achievements in the curriculum and the activities in the textbooks were generally related to the moral judgment skill among moral skills. At the same time, it was stated that the skills-based approach was adopted in the curriculum, but it was seen that the characteristics of skills-based education were not included in the outcomes and textbooks. In addition to the emphasis on skill-based education in the curriculum, it is seen that the curriculum and textbooks are incomplete in terms of skill-based education. When the opinions of the teachers on the subject were examined, it was seen that their knowledge about skill-based education was superficial, but they cared about the adoption and transformation of the information they conveyed to the students into behaviors by the students.