A Comparative Study of Textbook Writing Process in Iran and South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Turkey and USA

This qualitative study with comparative method and with the help of George Brady model was conducted with the aim of examining the textbook production process in Iran and comparing it with South Korea, Japan, USA, Singapore and Turkey. The statistical population of this study was the textbooks of the countries of the world, the sample of which was purposefully selected. The required information was collected by library method and analyzed using George Brady's four-step method. The results showed: 1. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, as in other countries, the textbook is the main educational media and the Ministry of Education is responsible for formulating basic and general policies for the preparation of textbooks. 2. Unlike other countries, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a 10-year period is considered as the time interval for revision and general revision of the textbook, which is almost twice the period considered in other countries under study. 3. In all countries studied except Iran, there are multi-authorization policies and decentralized production. 4. In all countries under study, there is a reference beyond textbook authors to review and approve draft books; But the position of this authority in the hierarchy within the Ministry of Education is different. 5. While in other countries, governmental and non-governmental authors (individually or in groups in the form of companies and private publishers) write textbooks, in Iran there are only selected government authors selected by the author under certain conditions. 6. Choosing a textbook in Iran does not make sense, but in other countries the choice means choosing the best book from the approved books and tailored to the educational needs of the school, teacher and student. 7. In examining the main stages of the process of preparing textbooks of the formal education system in the studied countries, it was also found that in all of them, stages planning, authorship, approval, publication, although with some differences, are common.