Values Education in Pre-Professional Level of Religion Textbooks: Strategies towards Desired Situation through a Review of the Status Quo

This study investigates the current place of values in exceptional students Religious Education (RE) textbooks.

In this survey study, first, the relevant literature and conceptual framework for values education along with objectives of, pre-professional level of exceptional Education in Iran was studied categorized in five values including: ritual, social, ideological, economic and ethical values. In the second stage, using content analysis all RE textbooks being taught at pre-professional level were examined and the data were analyzed via fitting statistical methods.

It is indicated that the contents of Religious books of pre-professional levels consist (32.86%) with ideological values, (27.65%) with ritual values, (25.76%) with ethical values, (11.82%) with social values and (1.89%) with economical values. Statistical analysis yielded differences between the RE textbooks in terms of attention given to each category.

Values education is currently far from the comprehensiveness. Accordingly, considering the importance of the students’ religious education, it is essential that the content be revised to balance in designing the syllabus.