EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING-LEARNING ACTIVITIES OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDUCATION AT SECONDARY LEVEL

Abstract

This qualitative study sought to explore secondary RME teachers' and students' perceptions of effective RME teaching-learning activities; the status of teaching-learning activities in RME classrooms; suitable pedagogy for effective RME teaching-learning; and the effect of RME teaching-learning on students' motivation toward moral values. Six secondary schools were selected through convenient selection from Dhaka, Barisal, Patuakhali, Gazipur, Kishoreganj, and Faridpur districts of Bangladesh, respectively. The purposively selected participants of this study included six RME teachers, 48 10th-grade students (42 for FGI and 6 for individual interviews), six parents, and six SSC completers from the same school. In addition, three expert teacher educators from the Government Teachers' Training College of Bangladesh also participated in this study. Different sets of semi-structured interview guides, an FGI guide, and an observation guide were used for data collection. Data collected through interviews, observations, and FGI were transcribed, coded, and then categorized based on major themes that emerged during data analysis. The major findings comprise:-(i) students' perceptions of effective RME teaching-learning include-RME teaching-learning could be effective if teaching is documentary aided; teaching is incarnated with the stories; the commitment and expertise of the teacher drive teaching. Furthermore, teaching is effective when student comprehension is optimized rather than memorized; when maintaining connections between sequences of events; when teachers expose role models; and when students' motivation for religious and moral action is practically awakened. Also, in teachers' perception, RME teaching can be effective if it increases students' ability to understand the content easily; visually conveys the practical benefits of RME; enable students to apply the fundamentals of RME in their real life; and incorporates the scientific interpretation of RME with ICT integration. (ii) RME teachers used their own teaching style (e. g., instead of assessing students' prior knowledge and creating an appropriate mental environment for the new lesson, starting the lesson by assessing students' learning in the previous day's lesson, reading and discussing the text, assigning lessons for memorization, etc.). One-sided discussion (by the teacher) was the teachers' common teaching method. No ICT media were used to teach RME, and their teaching paid little attention to the functional skills of RME, such as correctly reciting the prescribed Surahs (the verses of the holy Qur'an) in the curriculum. Teachers had an incomplete or feeble understanding of student-centered teaching-learning methods and rarely used them in teaching RME. Students' active involvement in the learning process was absent in the teaching-learning activities of the teachers. Most of these are taught in secondary RME classrooms using ineffective and inappropriate teaching-learning methods. (iii) For effective teaching-learning of RME, experts recommend role modeling religious and moral values, using daily experiences, applying the constructivist approach, utilizing practical project work, reflecting on learning, using drama, teaching by going beyond the text and classroom, using role play technique and implementing critical pedagogy. (iv) The effect of RME teaching-learning on students' motivation toward moral values appeared very poor in the face of the curriculum's intention. In fine, the findings of this study could be a guideline for the curriculum authority, educational policymakers, administrators, supervisors, teacher educators, textbook writers, and classroom teachers for necessary steps from their respective parts.