Exploration of the Implementation Challenges and Obstacles of the Educational Guidance Program

The aim of this research was exploring the implementation challenges of the educational guidance program (promulgation: 2017) in secondary schools in Khorasan Razavi Province. Adopting the qualitative approach, 52 key informants (including managers, staff, target group, and parents) were interviewed in order to explore stakeholders’ lived experiences. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were transcribed, then a thematic analysis was conducted. Implementation challenges and obstacles of the educational guidance program were classified into 11 main categories including challenges of the nature and performing online tests, the inadequacies of the balanced development of disciplines, the unbalanced distribution of demand for enrolling in various disciplines, parents’ attitudes and practical orientations, student’s attitudes and practical orientations, the obstacles to counselors’ effective function, school administrators function, teachers' weak cooperation, inconsistence implementation of the program in different schools, limitations and inefficiency of field visits, and informating deficiencies. It seems that the educational guidance program has deficiencies in practical aspects and hardware settings. Furthermore, its agents and target group have deficiencies and contradictions in terms of cognition, belief, motivation, and behavior. In order to reduce implementation challenges and obstacles, the following are suggested: Using workshop format for promoting the program, employing volunteers and social diffusion process, involving teachers, emphasizing the benefits and individual consequences of choices, matching up the content of messages with the students’ socio-economic status, informing the target audience about technical problems and humbly recognizing related concerns, documenting experiences and receiving written feedback from stakeholders.