An examination of the educational experiences of candidate religious officials in the Diyanet Academy

The increasing demand for qualified religious services in society has necessitated the development of new training programs. The Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı) primarily meets its personnel needs from candidates who have graduated from various educational programs such as Imam Hatip High Schools, associate degree programs in theology, undergraduate programs in theology and Islamic studies, and the İLİTAM (Theology Completion Program). However, these educational programs have been found to be insufficient in fully meeting the professional competencies required of religious officials and contain various shortcomings. Although several in-service training activities were organized in previous years to address these deficiencies, these efforts often remained inadequate. To respond to this need, the Diyanet Academy was established in 2022, offering comprehensive pre-service professional training programs aimed at enhancing the knowledge, skills, and competencies of religious personnel. The Academy seeks to train qualified human resources to ensure that religious services are delivered more effectively and efficiently. Within this framework, some of the previously in-service training programs have been moved to the pre-service phase and restructured under the title of "Candidate Religious Officials Training" within the Diyanet Academy. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the candidate religious officials training programs conducted by the Diyanet Academy based on the experiences of its first-term trainees. The research aims to reveal in depth the professional training experiences of the first-term graduates of the Diyanet Academy. This study was carried out using a qualitative research design, specifically the phenomenological (phenomenology) approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The study group consisted of 18 religious officials who graduated from the Diyanet Academy and are currently serving under 4-B contractual status. The data obtained from the interviews were subjected to descriptive analysis and reported under thematic categories.According to the findings, the training process of the Diyanet Academy was generally perceived positively by the participants. They emphasized that the program contributed significantly to their professional competence, self-confidence, and readiness for fieldwork. However, it reveals that various improvements are needed in the context of curriculum, education period, pedagogical methods, physical conditions and economic supports. Keywords: Religious education, Diyanet Academy, candidate religious officials