Harnessing the potential of pre-school pupils through religious education teaching and learning

• Main Authors: Mohamed, Sofiah, Jasmi, Kamarul Azmi, Md. Sawari, Siti Salwa, Abdullah, Mohd. Nasri, Ramli, Ruhiyati, Mohd. Yunus, Fazlulaini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Medwell Journal 2016
• Subjects: BP Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy, etc; BV1460 Religious Education; LB Theory and practice of education
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/55928/1/SofiahMohamed2016_HarnessingthePotentialofPre-SchoolPupil.pdf; http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/55928/; http://docsdrive.com/pdfs/medwelljournals/sscience/2016/2995-3000.pdf

The objective of the study is to explore the potential of pre-school pupils’ in the teaching and learning process (P and P) of religion education in preschool. The objective of preschool education is to develop the pupils’ potential comprehensively through integrating fun, creative and meaningful learning. Therefore, teachers should play a proactive role with the knowledge they have and possess the determination to achieve this goal. Religion education is one of the most important fields of education to be emphasized, so that pupils can understand and implement the real Religion teaching. This research is a pilot study with a qualitative approach in terms of the case study and observation as the main instrument. The data were based on the observation from interviews and document analysis. Sampling method had been used to select the participants who had a diploma of education from education institutions, participated and received training from the Ministry of Education (MOE) and had experiences in preschool teaching for >3 years. The results of the study revealed that there are roles in both teachers’ and pupils’ characters in the teaching and learning process (P and P) of religion education in preschool to develop the pupils’ potential. The main characteristics of the teachers were in the terms of their personal techniques and models while the pupils’ potentials that had been developed were in terms of their spiritual and socio-emotional values. The data from this study had produced the model of teacher’s characters in Harnessing the potential of pre-school pupils that can be used by the Ministry of Education Malaysia, private entities, teachers and parents in relation to children’s education in preschool.