Iranian Journal of Comparative Education
Volume:1 Issue: 3, Autumn 2018

This study aims to compare the position of the formal education system of the Islamic Republic of Iran with those of neighboring countries. This is a comparative quantitative study, in which the statistical population was analyzed at the world regions/continents level based on the Bray and Thomas cube. The research sample consisted of Iran and 13 neighboring countries. There were six education indices classified generally as student, human resources, environment and equipment, financial, outcome, and qualitative groups with 20 micro indices. The information was collected by analyzing documents, contents of reports, and citable references such as international data-banks, official websites of the Ministry of Education, and governmental sources and reports as well as those of research institutions and the mass media. Regarding the fulfillment percentage of education indices, the research findings indicate that Iran was ranked seventh among neighboring countries. Among seven Arab countries except for Iraq, countries on the southern border of the Persian Gulf were ranked from first to six; thus, they outstripped Iran and other neighboring countries. According to other research findings, Iran was ranked below fifth in seven indices, compared with 13 neighboring countries, and between sixth and tenth in 11 indices. Iran was ranked third in apparent intake ratio, first in actual intake ratio, and second in the ratio of technical and vocational students to the entire students.

This study aims to investigate the experiences of extracurricular activities in the teacher education systems of Australia, Germany, and the United States in order to provide suggestions for educational and curriculum policy makers in the Iranian Teacher Education System. This is a qualitative, non-experimental, applied, comparative study in terms of nature, variable control level, purpose, and method, respectively. It uses George Bereday's four-step approach and similarity and difference design based on John Stuart Mill's Method of Agreement and Difference. This is a macro study in terms of unit of observation, conducted using the selective sampling method with "limited variables, small N" and the selection strategy of “different systems, similar results". Findings indicated that the selected countries emphasized the cultural and social goals of the extra-curricular activities. Also, the various functions of these activities were mainly directed towards cultural identity, social cohesion and professional development. There were similarities and differences among the selected countries in terms of the scope of extracurricular activities. According to the findings, educational planners of Iran at the Teacher Education University and the Ministry of Education should consider that extracurricular activities are one of the most appropriate, attractive and indirect methods for educating the younger generation of teachers.

The present article aims to compare the performance and activities of Educational Testing Service (ETS) of USA, Central Institute for Test Development (CITO) of Netherlands, and Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) with the National Organization for Educational Testing (NOET) as the largest and most creditable testing institute in Iran so as to present a model for the revision and promotion of its organizational activities and a groundwork for strategic evaluation. The mission, activities, educational assessment services, and organizational structure of these three peers were compared with NOET and their similarities and differences were studied in order to give a better understanding of the current shortcomings. The findings indicate the comprehensiveness and vastness of the mission and educational activities, the development of a wide range of tests consistent with the customers’ requirements, the development of standard tests with the purpose of monitoring learner’s progress, the consideration for international activities, the provision of educational services for different countries and the presence of expert and skilled human resources and the working conditions based on teamwork, interaction, and intellectual exchange in ETS, CITO, and KICE. These results highlighted the need for modelling and fulfilling the desirable issues within the future research frameworks of the NOET as a pioneer organization in the realm of high-level policy making and leadership.

Contemporary Cultural-Social Approaches in non-Formal Education is an interesting as well as intriguing area for modern researches in the context of Education, Culture, and Society. The arts, literature, new technologies, pop culture, theatre, cinema and mass media are considered, among others, very important factors/agents of modern non-formal education internationally. In this context, it is strongly highlighted that literature, theatrical plays and cinema can play an important role in contemporary cultural-social approaches to non-formal education nowadays. Based on the latter fact, the current article will present examples from all three aforementioned fields: a case study on Medieval Literature, the poem of ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ with a connection to the issue of anti-feminism, a case study on Harold Pinter’s play ‘The Birthday Party’ whose title is further discussed and a case study on Paul Verhoeven’s film ‘Basic Instinct’ with a view to present gender stereotypes in the cinematic sphere.

In the world brimming with rapid changes and developments of the 21st century and mass of various data and information, teaching philosophy to students in the meaning of teaching the correct ways of thinking, obtaining information, reasoning as well as critical and evaluative thinking would be deemed as a universal necessity and the basic responsibility of all educational systems of the various countries. The reason lies behind the fact that teaching philosophy to learners, on the one hand, lays the grounds for development of students’ intellectual and cognitive power, and on other hand, facilitates settling the personal and social problems by its manifestation in real and practical life. Having recognized the importance of teaching philosophy to students, this paper aims to highlight the crucial role and responsibility of educational system in this realm, and accordingly, attempts to prepare the preliminaries for legalization of teaching philosophy and including it in the curricula of schools and educational centers.

Teaching foreign/second languages is a demanding occupation, with levels of challenge increasing for teachers across the universe. Given that language teachers’ awareness of their profession and a pleasant sense of job performance are central to their ability to teach well, the current study explores internal and external assets, both of which have been demonstrated to play a prominent role in educational contexts by looking into the classroom performance. The research aimed to explore teachers’ reflections on teaching profession and the challenges they experience during their professional performance in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context of Iran. In this regard, the study adopted qualitative data collection procedures, and the work took place over a period of three months. Data were obtained from interviewing 50 teacher participants, who were selected according to the convenience sampling. The study findings indicate that we need more research and reflections on assets that underlie English teachers’ performance. In effect, a complete awareness of performance could provide teachers with a more effective form of professionalism.Results point to the need to a clear understanding of challenges experienced by English language teachers in Iran as they contribute to this stressful profession. Given the fundamental role(s) played by teachers, it is promising that the current research contributes to a better understanding of how language teachers can develop in their profession.