Erken, Humeyra Guleryuz (2020) Exploring secondary school students’ perceptions of respectful attitudes and respectful behaviours : a comparative empirical study in Turkey and England. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This study examines perceptions of respect, respectful attitudes, and respectful behaviours among English and Turkish secondary school students. Since the end of the 20th century, there has been considerable interest in effectively incorporating values into school curricula in England and Turkey. Within the context of the Turkish and the English educational systems, certain values such as respect, tolerance, democracy, and empathy were given particular attention. ‘Respect’ is one of these significant values in school curricula in England and Turkey. Although the value of respect is widely used, it is still a difficult concept to define. However, the present study considers the value of respect as a courteous or considerate treatment due to personal worth, feeling of esteem or consideration of particular features. In this research, the value of respect has been operationalised to explore the students’ perceptions of respect, respectful attitudes toward others, and respectful behaviours toward others. As far as the current study is concerned, there is no comparative empirical study that assesses the value of respect among secondary school students. Hence, this research improves our understanding of respect through students’ perspectives.

This study employed a quantitative research design and adopted a cross-sectional survey. This research designed a special “Respect Inventory” consisting “Conceptualising Respect”, “Respectful Attitudes toward Others” and “Respectful Behaviours toward Others” scales, which was part of the ‘You and Your Values’ questionnaire that also included further scales: the Astley-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Theistic Faith (SATF; Astley, Francis, & Robbins, 2012); the Abbreviated form of the Revised Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (JEPQR-A; Francis, 1996); the empathy scale of the Junior Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire (JIVE; Eysenck, Easting & Pearson, 1984); the Short Form Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory (SEI; Coopersmith, 1981). The aim of using these scales was to examine the relationship between respectful behaviours and the range of other related dimensions such as self-esteem, empathy, attitude toward theistic faith, and personality types. The study sample was two different groups of participants, 5894 11- to 14-year-old secondary school students (2388 from England, 3506 from xix Turkey), which refers to Year 7, Year 8, and Year 9 in England and Year 6, Year 7, and Year 8 in Turkey.

The data analysis is presented in two parts. The first part reports on the psychometric properties of the research instruments. The second part explores the effects of personal factors, psychological factors, personal qualities, religious factors, religious affiliations, religious beliefs (in Turkey), family factors, school factors, Religious Education (RE) (in England), traditional customs (in Turkey) on respectful behaviour by designing appropriate regression models.

The main findings indicate that while empathy, self-esteem, and attitude toward theistic faith have a positive effect on respectful behaviour, age and psychoticism have a negative effect on respectful behaviour for England. Equally for Turkey, empathy and self-esteem have a positive effect on respectful behaviour; and age and psychoticism have a negative effect on respectful behaviour. The study concludes by summarising the key findings of the study and its research and policy implications.

This research contributes to the field of comparative study field of values and values education, psychological study of values and growing empirical studies in Religious Education and Islamic religious pedagogy by including student experience in the wider discussions on how best to present the value of respect within the schooling system.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools L Education > LC Special aspects of education
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Respect for persons, High school students -- Turkey -- Attitudes, High school students -- England -- Attitudes, High school students -- Turkey -- Conduct of life, High school students -- England -- Conduct of life, Islamic education
Official Date:	February 2020
Dates:	Date Event February 2020 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Education Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Sahin, Abdullah, 1968- ; Francis, Leslie J.
Sponsors:	Turkey. Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xix, 288 leaves : illustrations
Language:	eng

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