A Phenomenological Study of the Spiritual Education Curriculum in Lower Secondary Education with a Dynamic Lifestyle Approach
Keywords:
curriculum, spiritual education, dynamic lifestyle, phenomenology, lower secondary educationAbstract
Purpose: The present study aimed to explore and explain the structure and components of the spiritual education curriculum in lower secondary education based on a dynamic lifestyle approach from the perspective of experts and specialists.
Methods and Materials: This study was conducted using a qualitative approach with a phenomenological design. The participants consisted of eight experts and specialists in the field of spiritual education curriculum, who were selected through purposive and sequential sampling until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews lasting between 45 and 90 minutes. To ensure rigor, criteria such as credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability were applied through strategies including member checking and expert review. Data analysis was carried out using Colaizzi’s seven-step method (1978), involving extraction of significant statements, formulation of meanings, clustering of themes, and validation of findings.
Findings: The analysis revealed that the spiritual education curriculum in lower secondary education is a multidimensional and integrated construct comprising eleven main themes and fifty-eight sub-themes. These themes include rationale, general principles, objectives, content, teaching strategies, evaluation, teacher role, learner role, family, environment, and time. The findings indicate that effective spiritual education is grounded in nurturing innate tendencies, value internalization, and meaning-making processes, while requiring coherence among curricular components, learner-centered approaches, contextual alignment, and continuous, dynamic implementation across educational settings.
Conclusion: The study concludes that the spiritual education curriculum, when framed within a dynamic lifestyle approach, functions as a holistic and context-sensitive system that integrates philosophical, pedagogical, and environmental dimensions to support adolescents’ identity formation, moral development, and existential understanding. The proposed framework highlights the necessity of aligning curriculum design with learners’ lived experiences and developmental needs, emphasizing flexibility, interaction, and sustained engagement to enhance the effectiveness of spiritual education in contemporary educational systems.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Haniyeh Maleki (Author); Alireza Araghieh; Hassan Maleki, Nahid Shafiee, Amirhosein Mehdizadeh (Author)
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