Reinforcer usage levels of religious culture and ethics teachers

This research aimed to determine the Religious Culture and Ethics teachers' reinforcer usage levels. At the same time, it is aimed to indicate the role and importance of reinforcement practices in creating the desired behavioral change in the student. The study consists of 613 Religious Culture and Ethics teachers working in official primary and secondary schools in Battalgazi and Yeşilyurt districts which are the central districts of Malatya province in the 2023-2024 academic year. 323 Religious Culture and Ethics teachers who are determined by random sampling from the study population, constitute the sample group. This study is a quantitative research and the general screening model was used in the research. Within the scope of the research, the ''Attitude Scale on Reinforcement Use'' developed by Özcan (1998) was used to determine the reinforcer usage levels of Religious Culture and Ethics teachers. As the data shows the normal distribution, parametric tests were used in statistical analyses. Independent sample t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to determine whether the participants showed significant differences according to some independent variables (gender, marital status, school type, educational status, age, length of service). According to the findings of the research, Reinforcement usage levels of Religious Culture and Ethics teachers are high. It was determined that there was an important difference in the reinforcer usage levels of Religious Culture and Ethics teachers in terms of the ''gender'' variable. This differentiation is in favor of male teachers. It was not found that there was significant difference in reinforcer use levels in terms of the ''marital status'' variable. A significant difference was observed in terms of the ''school type'' variable. It was determined that primary school teachers' reinforcement usage levels were higher than secondary school teachers. No significant difference was found in terms of the ''Educational status'' variable, but a significant difference emerged in terms of the ''Age'' variable. Reinforcement usage levels of teachers aged 41 and over were higher. There was no significant difference in terms of the ''duration of service''variable. In the conclusion section of the research, various suggestions were developed in line with the findings. Key Words: Religious Culture and Ethics, Reinforcer, Reinforcement, Behavior Change