This study examined the effects of the cooperation of emotional intelligence and social activities in education on school culture and value acquisition. The research used a simultaneous transformational research design with a mixed research method. Seven hundred and ten students participated in the quantitative part of the research, and 105 teachers and school administrators participated in the qualitative part. The quantitative research with students determined a positive and significant relationship between social activity, values and school culture scales. Students’ participation in social activities mediates the impact of values on the school culture and contributes to the formation of a culture. Accordingly, the cooperation of emotional intelligence and social activities significantly contributes to developing students’ emotional and social skills, the positive transformation of the school culture and the acquisition of values. The teachers who participated in the qualitative section also confirmed this result. The teachers stated that social activities are essential in the value education process at school and connect students more strongly to the school. In this regard, developing educational programs and policies that support the cooperation of emotional intelligence and social activities will be a critical step for education systems. This is crucial in achieving the sustainable development goals. This study indicates that social activities are essential in promoting sustainability in education.

The Effect Failing to Perform Extracurricular Activities Has Had on School Culture and Values Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In today’s environment, where technological advancement affects individuals of all ages, it is an important research topic to determine how much the values of teenagers who are in the learning and personal development stage are affected by this change. This research aims to determine the effects of students’ social media attitudes and social media use on values. A social media attitude scale, social media’s impact on values scale, and a semi-structured interview form had been utilized in the research conducted with a mixed method. Four hundred fifty-seven secondary and high school students had participated in the quantitative dimension of the study conducted in all regions of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and 45 students and 33 teachers had participated in the qualitative measurement. According to the research, both the social media attitudes of the students and their perception of social media’s impacts on values are high. there is a strong correlation between the student’s perception of social media and their beliefs that it influences values. Solidarity, sharing, patriotism, togetherness, sensitivity, and love of nature had been expressed as values that increased with social media usage. It had been stated that the importance of sociability, empathy, love, respect, honesty, responsibility, and diligence decreases with the use of social media. Rich content can be prepared, and individual and institutional studies can be increased, especially for the values aimed to be gained in terms of honesty, transparency, and privacy.

Social responsibility is one of the most critical issues expected to be included in education programs today, as the need for socially responsible individuals is ever-increasing. Education is vital in transferring values to students that align with societal ideals. Teachers are the most essential component of values education and transmission, since teachers are the ones who represent and lead values education. It is stated that values education programs carried out through social activities significantly affect the social skills of individuals. In this context, teachers who attach importance to and model social skills will contribute positively to their students’ social skills. Students are considered to learn more through extracurricular educational experiences than through experiences in the traditional classroom. This also applies to teacher candidates. In this regard, the university is critical in terms of the effectiveness of institutions that train teacher candidates, who will in turn impact the future by teaching new generations. The teacher candidates cannot learn these abilities solely through formal schooling. Hence, individual effort and research, participation in group activities, and getting support from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are now essential to learn the skills. This study, which was prepared based on this approach, is based on the findings of several social responsibility exercises for future teachers as part of the “Teachers of the Future Project”. Social responsibility activities implemented within the scope of the project that has been carried out can be summed up as teacher candidates engaging in educational activities for the underprivileged, marking down the positive experiences that experienced teachers have had throughout their careers, meeting with secondary and high school students during social activities and informing them about the universities and departments they are currently enrolled in. The social responsibility activities in this project aim to increase teacher candidates' sense of responsibility. This research aims to reveal the effect of this project, which teacher candidates participated in, on their acquisition of values. Accordingly, the study aims to investigate the impact of the social responsibility activities that teacher candidates participate in within the project’s scope on gaining the necessary skills for values education and the social responsibility activities they will implement while teaching. The study used an experimental methodology and involved 174 teacher candidates enrolled in several university departments in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 2021. The research used two scales and a semi-structured interview form to reveal the effect of social and cultural activities on the acquisition of values. The research’s findings showed that the teacher candidates’ participation in social responsibility projects led to considerable improvements in their values, which are believed to be associated with social responsibility. These values are honesty, responsibility, patience, respect, helpfulness, unity, patriotism, and the importance of family. The increase in these values shows that the collaborative and project-based training and practices organized within the scope of values education are effective. One of the most important results of the research is that education, activity and project-based practices applied beyond the courses in the faculty increase the acquisition of values of teacher candidates. In addition, it has been revealed that values acquisition is more effective and higher for teacher candidates who have participated in similar practices and training before. The reason for this is a reflection of previous positive experiences. In the interviews, pre-service teachers said that the social responsibility activities they participated in within the project’s scope led to an awareness of values education and positively affected the acquisition of values. Another result that emerged from the interviews was the statement that it was beneficial for them to see model applications. In addition, if they are still university students, they also said that participating in activities with secondary school students gave them an empathetic perspective. Pre-service teachers emphasized that thanks to the project, they developed both personally and professionally, and could better understand students and find the correct methods. It may be suggested that in addition to their formal education at the university, teacher candidates take part in unofficial training, social responsibility initiatives, and values-based activities. In addition, it is recommended that university teacher training departments carry out more joint projects with other educational institutions and NGOs that provide education-related services and even include these activities in their training programs.

Tr en Yaygın eğitim kişilerin toplumsal değişimlere uyum sağlamasını sağlamak ve ulusal kalkınma hedeflerine ulaşmak için yaşam boyu eğitim felsefesi çerçevesinde yapılan tüm eğitim faaliyetleridir. Bunlar içinde yaygın din eğitimi resmi olarak Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı eliyle yürütülen faaliyetlerdir. Özellikle yaygın din eğitimine katılan yetişkinlerin büyük bölümü kadınlardan ve bu eğitimi verenlerin de önemli kısmı bayan Kur’an kursu öğreticilerinden oluşmaktadır. Kurslar aynı zamanda kadınların sosyalleşmesi için de önemli bir görev ifa etmektedir. Yaptığımız bu çalışmada yaygın din eğitimi veren Kur’an kurslarındaki öğreticilerin meslekî doyum düzeyleri ile bunlara etki eden faktörlerin tespit edilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Çalışma nicel araştırma yöntemine göre yapılmıştır. Bu araştırmada Kuzgun, Sevim ve Hamamcı tarafından geliştirilen Meslekî Doyum Ölçeği kullanılmıştır. 2019 yılında, İstanbul Sancaktepe ve Kartal ilçelerinde çalışan Kur’an kursu öğreticileri araştırma kapsamına alınmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda öğreticilerin meslekî doyum düzeylerinin çok yüksek olduğu ortaya çıkmıştır. Öğreticilerin doyum düzeylerine etki eden faktörler arasında medeni durum, eğitim seviyesi ve okuttukları öğrenci sayıları yer almaktadır. Meslekî gelişim imkânlarına sahip olmanın öğreticilerin bağlılıkları, doyumları ve gönüllü olarak daha fazla çalışmaları üzerinde oldukça önemli etkisinin olduğu görülmüştür. Bu araştırmanın Kur’an kursu öğreticilerinin meslekî doyumlarını ölçme açısından da alanındaki birkaç çalışmadan biri olması bakımından araştırmacılar ve uygulayıcılar için yol gösterici olacağı düşünülmektedir. Non-formal education is all education activities carried out within the framework of lifelong education philosophy in order to ensure that individuals adapt to social changes and achieve national development goals. Among these, the Presidency of Religious Affairs officially carries out non-formal religious education. Particularly, the majority of the adults attending non-formal religious education are women and the majority of those who teach this education are female Qur’an course teachers. Courses also play an important role in socializing women. In this study, it is aimed to determine the occupational satisfaction levels of the Qur'an courses that provide non-formal religious education and the factors affecting them. The study was conducted according to quantitative research method. Professional Satisfaction Scale developed by Kuzgun, Sevim and Hamamcı was used in this research. In the 2019 year, the Qur’an course teachers working in Sancaktepe and Kartal districts of Istanbul were included in the research. Because of the research, it was found that the professional satisfaction levels of the teachers were very high. The factors affecting the satisfaction levels of the teachers are marital status, education level and the number of students they teach. It was seen that having professional development opportunities had a significant effect on the commitment, satisfaction and voluntary work of the teachers. This study is considered a guide for researchers and practitioners as it is one of the few studies in the field of measuring the professional satisfaction of Qur'an course teachers.