اسلام و پژوهش‌های تربیتی

The aim of this study is to analyze the challenges of religious education and its validation in the school system. The mixed method is used in this research. In the qualitative phase, the participants included experts and professionals such as educational supervisors of the "Religion and Life" course for upper-secondary schools, officials in charge of the Quran and Itrat (Prophet’s Household) programs, school principals and vice-principals, selected through purposeful sampling. The participants’ perspectives were analyzed through semi-structured interviews. The findings show that the challenges of religious education include weak educational policymaking, ineffective ethical and emotional educational atmosphere, overly idealistic and inflexible goals, misalignment with students' needs, inactive and impractical educational programs, deficiencies in explanatory and implementation methods, teachers' shortcomings in personality traits, specialized knowledge, religious beliefs, professional expertise, and commitment, as well as poor management of virtual spaces. To validate the findings, a researcher-developed questionnaire was used to survey the perspectives of "Religion and Life" teachers from upper-secondary schools in five provinces of the country. The majority of the identified components were confirmed.