The Future of Shadow Education in Iran: Opportunities and Challenges for The Formal Education System

This research was conducted with the aim of identifying the opportunities and challenges of shadow education for the official education system of Iran based on the lived experience of teachers, with a qualitative approach and phenomenological method. The participants in this study were elementary and middle school teachers in Shiraz in the academic year 2023-2022, who, in addition to formal education, had teaching experience in a private school. Using the purposeful sampling method, 16 people were selected until data saturation was reached. A semi-structured interview was used to collect data and the data analysis was done using the seven-step Claizian method. The results of the research showed that shadow education has many opportunities such as: "improving learning, preparing for exams, filling free time and..." as well as challenges such as "weakening the centrality of formal education, educational discrimination, social inequality." and..." for the official education system of the country. Based on this, it is suggested to equip schools and diversify the learning environments, standardize shadow training places, change the procedure in the admission system and entrance exam of schools and universities.