Teachers' opinions on the effects of secondary school Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge course on religiousness and honesty: The Kocaeli example

This study aims to reveal the effects of the Religious Culture and Ethics course in secondary schools on students' religiosity and honesty. Our thesis consists of two main parts. The first, theoretical part, uses a literature review method to define fundamental concepts such as religion, morality, religiosity, and honesty. The second, practical part, uses a qualitative (in-depth interview) research technique to gather the opinions and thoughts of ten Religious Culture and Ethics (DKAB) teachers working at two different Imam-Hatip secondary schools. The findings reveal that the vast majority of DİKAB teachers believe there is a direct and positive relationship between religiosity and honesty. While participants emphasized that religious individuals should be honest, they also noted that not every honest individual is necessarily religious. This suggests a common belief that the DİKAB course's impact on students is primarily at a cognitive level. Teachers stated that the course's outcomes have the potential to instill religious and moral values in students, but due to the curriculum's information-based nature, they have limited impact on the development of practical behaviors. Furthermore, it was noted that demographic factors such as conscience, age, gender, family structure, and education level influence individuals' levels of religiosity and honesty. In this context, it was concluded that students' personal, familial, and social backgrounds are important variables shaping the effects of the DKAB course. Overall, the findings suggest that the DKAB course can be an important tool in teaching the relationship between religiosity and honesty; however, for this to be effective, the curriculum needs to be simplified, practice-based teaching methods increased, and teachers need to engage with students as role models in extracurricular interactions.