The evaluation of imam hatip high schools from the perspectives of their students and graduates

This research aims to determine the opinions of the students and graduates of Tokat Anatolian Imam Hatip High School in various topics regarding imam hatip high schools and being a member of these schools. Having been prepared in mixed method based on the application of quantitative and qualitative research methods, the research has been conducted in partially mixed concurrent equal status design. Three different data collection tools have been developed for the study. The population of the scale "The Reasons of Students' Choosing the Imam Hatip High Schools, Their Expectations and Satisfaction" prepared to define the aims, expectations, contentment and the reasons of students' choosing these schools consists of 802 students attending the Tokat Anatolian Imam Hatip High School in 2017-2018 educational year. The sample contains 254 students selected from this school by simple randomized sampling. The scale "The Interview Form of Imam Hatip and Being a Member of Imam Hatip High School within the Perception of Imam Hatip High School Student" designed to identify the perception of the students on being a member of imam hatip high school contains all the students of this school as the population and the sample consists of 28 students specified by maximum diversity technique. The scale "The Past, Today and the Future of the Imam Hatip High Schools From the Viewpoint of Imam Hatip High School Graduates" developed to define the perception of the graduates regarding these schools contains the graduates of imam hatip high schools as the population and 158 people among these have been taken as the sample selected by simple randomized sampling. IBM SPSS Statistics 21 packed programme and Microsoft Office Excel 2016 programme have been used while analysing the data obtained by the data collection tools. The data on frequency, mean and percentage distribution have been processed after the data transfer to related programmes. The content analyses have been explained by the opinions of students and graduates. According to the results of the study, the students have chosen imam hatip high schools upon the direction of their parents. Furthermore, a new reason has been added to the reasons for selecting these schools which can be called "directing of the system" (not being able to get registered to the school they wish) as a consequence of the methods applied in the recent years on the registration of students to the level of secondary education. The expectations of the students from the imam hatip high schools aim at getting religious knowledge. The number of the students intending to become a theologist/religious comissary is relatively minor. The students, who think the quality of the education needs to be improved, state they wouldn't prefer that school if possible upon the evaluation of the conditions they are engaged. They have stated that especially administrative practices should be changed to an extent so that the school circumstances can be ameliorated. As a consequence of the content analysis of the data regarding the perception of being a member of imam hatip high school, it is seen that the students have expresssed the conceptions of imam hatip high school and being a member of these schools within the framework of values such as religion, nation and morality. The students think the imam hatip high schools mean getting religious education and these schools aim at teaching religious knowledge. The students stating they can express they are students in a imam hatip high school in public get both positive and negative reflections to it. They also think the society has positive expectations from them. The students of imam hatip high schools take the figures representing religious/national/moral values as role model/guide for themselves. They argue that the primary problems to solve among the others are those of religious, moral and humanitarian ones. Besides, they seem to possess negative opinions about the situation the Islamic world is in. As a result of the analysis of the data obtained by the data collection tool applied to figure out the ideas of the graduates of the imam hatip high schools relating to past, today and future of these schools, it has been found out that they define the period of time when they were students positively whereas they have a negative aspect for today's imam hatip high schools and the conditions students are in. Especially the ways by which the imam hatip high schools are made widespread and the student profile it has brought and the methods which the administrators are appointed by are the most widely criticized points. However, they seem to be more hopeful for the future compared to today. The findings have been discussed within the literary framework and some offers have been made up to the findings. Key Words: Religion, The Education of Religion, Imam Hatip High School, Being A Member Of Imam Hatip.