The State of Religious Identity of Second Secondary School Students in Isfahan City

Considering the role and place of religious identity in the harmonious and balanced development of the personality of the citizens, especially the young generation of the country, and the need to identify the problems and inefficiencies in this field, this qualitative research has tried to based on the lived experiences of the teachers (second secondary period) to identify the level of commitment of the students to religious identity as well as its main problems and challenges. The statistical population of the research was secondary school teachers in the city of Isfahan in the academic year 2023-2024, among them the experiences of 24 teachers who had at least 15 years of teaching experience in secondary schools and had sufficient knowledge and experience in the subject under investigation, were identified as sources of information for the research and were interviewed according to the principle of theoretical saturation. The data collection tool was a semi-structured in-depth interview. The seven-step method of Collaizi was also used to analyze the obtained data. Overall, the findings showed that from the point of view of the participating teachers, the level of adherence of secondary school students to religious identity is very low and at the same time, the growth and formation of this type of identity has 5 serious challenges, i.e. extreme conflict with virtual space and social media, negligence and inattention of students' families, problems of the educational system, influence of some social realities and the negative influence of friends and peer groups. It is obvious that thoughtful policy making and planning and careful action in the solving or reducing the mentioned challenges can play a very effective role in the growth and prosperity of the religious identity of the young generation.