Providing a Model for Decentralization in the Process of Policy-Making for Iran's Education System

Carrying out reforms, as one of the key aspects of policy making in the education sector, has long been considered a significant subject by many countries and governments have paid close attention to the important role of educational reform. Moving toward an effective educational reform in harmony with the existing political and economic situation can increase the productivity of the education system envisaged in the horizon of the national development perspective. The aim of this paper is to identify the affecting factors in this area of policy making and to develop a model of decentralization in educational policy- making process. In this article, we review the literature and conceptualize a model based on the literature. After conducting 15 interviews with the former members of Iranian Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, the Supreme Council of Education, ministers of education and academic professionals, we extracted through the method of thematic analysis, 12 main themes and 36 subthemes and provided a model consisting of four levels in harmony with the outcomes of this study. Finally, we describe the actual situation of the Iranian education system.