Comparative Study of the Cultural Experience of University Teacher Training in Iran and Germany

The present research is aimed at presenting mechanisms to reform the curriculum of teachers training in universities of Iran. Typically, university teachers specialize in a certain discipline. They are mostly hired and promoted thanks to their research-related achievements, but their teaching capability does not draw much attention. When this important question is ignored in the higher education curriculum, university professors develop a cultural experience that somehow teaches them how to teach. So a comparative study which focuses on mathematics has been conducted into the cultural experience of teacher training in higher education of Iran and Germany, as a developed country. Shahid Beheshti University and Kharazmi University served as the site of the research in Iran, while in Germany the study was conducted at Hamburg University. In the study which employed qualitative method, data has been collected through interviews and observations involving professors teaching Ph.D. courses as well as doctoral candidates in the two countries. The data has been analyzed through coding and categorization. Finally, the study reports the cultural experience differences in four major categories, namely: the professional outlook of students, the role of Ph.D. curriculum in preparing future higher education teachers, promoting Ph.D. graduates into university professors, and expanding the teaching knowledge of higher education teachers. In light of the culture of training university teachers in Iran, strategies have also been presented to reform the curriculum of university teachers training centers.