Representating Religious Teachings in Textbooks; Analysis of the Content of the Elementary School Textbooks Based on the Components of Religious Teachings

The purpose of this study was to analyze the content of elementary school textbooks based on the degree of attention to religious teachings. The study method was quantitative content analysis and the research population included all the textbooks of the first to third grades of elementary school that were used in primary schools in the academic year 2021-2022. Based on this, 22 book titles with 423 lessons, 2455 pages and 2469 images in total were reviewed and analyzed. The coding process was done deductively. The components of religious teachings (doctrinal teachings, moral-value teachings, ritual-practical teachings, emotional teachings) were extracted from theoretical foundations and in consultation with 7 professors of religious education. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (chi-square) were used to analyze the data and a retest method was used to study the reliability. The amount of agreement calculated as a criterion for coding reliability was 79%. The findings of this study showed that the component of moral values has the highest frequency and emotional teachings have the lowest frequency. The books of heavenly gifts, Persian and Quran have the most teachings and the least amount are found in the books of experimental sciences and in all the books they are thematic in teaching religious teachings.