Abstract:

Religious education practices in early childhood is an ongoing debate in Turkey like other countries. The level, method and content of religious, ethics and values education are challenging topics in the field of the educational sciences, particularly the religious education. In some societies that have been conducting religious education studies in the early childhood for many years, it is possible to come across a number of approaches and practices which developed specifically for early childhood. Today, these approaches continue to be practiced in various countries following the long-term programmes as well as research and developments in the field. These approaches have been shaped according to different needs that exist in different societies and continue to change and evolve according to the current needs of educational environments and communities. The aim of this study is to analyse and compare the approaches of early childhood religious education in terms of method, material, content, developmental period, evaluation stage and religious education approach and to discuss the possibilities and limitations of religious education in early childhood. Unfortunately, there are not sufficient studies regarding religious education practices in early childhood in our Turkey, the quality of the educations of the institutions providing religious education at the early childhood level is also questionable. Three different early childhood religious education approaches and one separate early childhood educational method are selected for this article to be examined. The first one is called The Good Shepherd, the second one is called Godly Play and the last one is called The Gift to the Child. In addition to The Good Shepherd and Godly Play methods and The Gift to the Child approaches, the article also focuses on the ethics and value education in the Waldorf approach. These are the most popular approaches that have been used in different countries for a long time and there are researches on details of educational practices, methods and effects of them. It is possible to evaluate the approaches and methods comparatively in terms of various aspects of the educational processes. It will be appropriate to perform the relevant examination by considering the stages of planning, implementation and evaluation of education and the sub-headings of these stages. The basic characteristics and comparison criteria of the approaches and methods were determined according to developmental features, age, religious education approaches, learning environments, methods, materials, content and evaluation areas. While developing a learning content that will support the religious, spiritual and moral development in the early childhood, a delicate process should be followed by considering many education-related factors such as the content, educational level of the students, materials, learning environment, methods and techniques, religious education approach. As a result, it can be said that all of the approaches created their lessons in a student-centered educational environment and they all use different materials during the educational process. The Good Shephard and The Godly Play are faith and church oriented and can be used in lessons created around the religious education and they use sacred texts, stories and rites during the education. Gift to the Child and Waldorf can be use multicultural and interreligious education in the schools, Gift to the Child brings examples from daily life for values and ethic education and Waldorf includes ontological questions to the curriculum. The Good Shephard created its content considering developmental stages of students, mental and emotional developments are very important for Gift to the Child and Waldorf approaches, but it seems like The Godly Play does not really focus on any of the developmental features. Children's interactions with the nature, their perceptions of animals and plants, their relations with each other and the rest of the society seem to be the basis of their education in early childhood. From this point of view, while developing religious education in the early childhood in our country, examining the approaches that are being practiced in the world in terms of techniques and materials can offer different perspectives. Creating curriculums and contents for early childhood religious, spiritual or ethics education requires a deep and broad preliminary examination on all aspects. We discuss that the developmental stage of child, content, material, educational environment, methods, and religious educational approach should be examined before the curriculum development. these criteria can be change with the expectation of the society from education, contemporary trends, social development etc. But it is a necessity to study all the aspects of early childhood to develop a special and unique early childhood approach for our society.

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