Religious education and ethical attitude of Muslim adolescents in Malaysia

Purpose – The study aims to investigate the students' perceptions on the teaching of Islamic education in the Malaysian secondary schools. The study will also look into the students' attitudes based on their personal self-evaluation as well as to examine the relationship between these two variables. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs quantitative and survey research design. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire which is distributed to samples that were randomly selected in representing the selected population among students of Malaysian secondary schools. The instrument used is a modification of instrument developed by Ab Halim et al., Ahmad Munawar and dan Azhar. The pilot study done shows a high reliability of 0.924 for the assessment of Islamic education teachings and 0.869 for the aspect of Islamic attitudes. 3,262 Form 4 and 6 students from selected schools in Malaysia participated in the study. The data were analyzed to display the frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson's correlation. Findings – The study revealed a high level of mean on the aspect of students' evaluation on the teaching of Islamic education at their schools. It was also found that the level of students' attitudes was also high, i.e. 4.26. There was a significant relation between the students' perceptions on the teaching of Islamic education and their attitudes (r=0.740, p=0.000). Practical implications – The implementation of teaching and learning strategies and new approaches are some of important elements in the teaching and learning process of Islamic education. This study shows that the lesson of Islamic education has significant and strong relationship with the students' attitudes in their daily lives. Since the students felt that the lesson of Islamic education was important for them, teachers should improve the lesson on Islamic education by using different types of teaching methods, technique application and motivational approaches. The teaching of Islamic education should not only focus on theoretical aspects but must also emphasize on practical implementation of Islamic knowledge. Originality/value – This paper describes the religious teaching and learning in schools which has significant relationship with the students' daily attitudes. A new area of research can be conducted to explore the most important factors of teaching and learning that contribute to the students' attitudes development. These findings can also be used by educators to improve the quality of the lessons based on the students' evaluation.