To What Extent Do High School Islamic Education Teachers in Saudi Arabia Implement Innovative Approaches in Their Teaching? Do Teacher Gender, Academic Qualifications, and Teaching Experiences Matter?

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this present study aimed to examine to what extent high school Islamic education teachers in Saudi Arabia implement innovative approaches in their teaching. Although the extent of implementing innovative approaches in teaching has been recognized, the current study showed little attention has been paid to teachers' beliefs about innovation and creativity and how those beliefs may influence teachers' perceptions as well as their choice of instructional methods and tasks. In this study, two questionnaires, designed to explore teacher's pedagogical beliefs and innovative approaches in teaching Islamic education, were administered to 174 high school Islamic education teachers ( Male teachers=107, Female teachers=67) located in different types of school districts: Urban, Holy cities, Industrial cities, and Rural area. Means, Standard Deviations, One - Way analysis of variance ANOVA, and Correlation Coefficients were employed. The results of the study indicated that teachers' beliefs showed a great influence when implementing Innovative approaches inside the classroom of Islamic education. Moreover, the study reported that no statistically significant differences were found when implementing innovative approaches with regard to number of years teaching experience, academic qualifications, and teacher gender. However, there was a statistically significant difference of school's location in terms of Freedom of Opinion subscale