Iranian Journal of Comparative Education
Volume:4 Issue: 4, Autumn 2021

The curriculum seeks to transmit the values, norms, and beliefs of powerful social systems such as politics and religion to the young generation, both visible and hidden. The purpose of this study is to analyze the content of Iran’s Middle Secondary school textbooks based on Van Dijk's ideological analysis. The researchers collected data through a documentary method. The data included Farsi and social studies textbooks of Grade 9 that were selected through purposeful sampling method. Findings showed that the authors in both school textbooks have used various axes and strategies in structure of the text to convey ideological discourse. Also, the polarization strategy has been used more than other strategies. Another finding of research indicated that the authors' emphasis on providing information that includes positive traits about oneself and negative traits about others. In addition, the findings reveal that in the Farsi book, the text space is mainly based on the use of epic-emotional approach, while in the social studies book, the negative role of foreigners is mainly highlighted. While these findings well demonstrate the dominance of ideological discourse over school textbook, naturally the centralized structure of the Iran education system does not allow for a reform in the current visible and hidden curriculum objectives.

Having creative and innovative employees is one of the characteristics of successful organizations in the contemporary world. Meanwhile, educational organizations have a wider capacity to simultaneously train and hire innovative staff. The aim of study was to compare innovative behavior models for use by planners and managers of educational organizations. The method of research was qualitative exploratory, research population includes all models of innovative behavior and data collection and analysis methods were documentary method and deductive content analysis respectively. The research findings indicate an upward trend in interest of study methods and factors affecting innovation among behavioral scientists and management researchers in both developed and developing countries. Awareness about complexity of recent models compared to previous models and the emphasis on the role of internal and external components of innovation is another research finding. Other findings of the study are that the component of "idea development" is present in ten models of innovation, while the two components of "initial assessment of the status of the organization" and “role of external factors on innovation" are mentioned in only three models. Therefore, the main similarity and difference among innovative behavior models can be seen in these three components. In addition, after the "idea development" component, the three components of idea production (in 8 models), product goods (in 8 models) and marketing (in 7 models) have caused the most similarity between innovation models. Based on these findings, it is suggested that in order to create and strengthen innovative behavior in educational organizations, a model be considered by policy makers and planners that has four main components namely production of new ideas, development of new ideas, production of goods based on new ideas and marketing for new products.

The present study aims to critically compare Iranian English high school books, namely Vision 2 & 3 with TouchStone 2 & 3 to disclose how male and female genders are represented. For this purpose, some factors, including the frequency of male and female characters, the frequency of male and female genders in terms of photographical presentation, and the ratio of ownership by male and female genders were calculated, interpreted, and explained in light of Fairclough’s (2001) three-dimension critical discourse analysis model. Results revealed that although both series of textbooks suffer from gender bias in favor of the male gender, the Iranian English high school books privilege the male gender compared to TouchStone 2 & 3. It was hypothesized that this inequality in gender representation in the Iranian English high school books might trace back to the cultural context of Iran wherein the females have been more or less marginalized. However, the authors of TouchStone 2 & 3 may have tried to mirror equality status between males and females in the western world. It was concluded that different stereotyped gender representation with the prevalence of an androgenic view in the Iranian English high school books has its roots in methodological and epistemological failures rather than strict adherence to Islamic ideology or Iranian cultural norms because Islam has adopted an egalitarian stance about sexes in society and other areas. Finally, in light of the findings, some pedagogical implications are proposed.

Psychology and literature add to each other's richness through interrelationships. Psychological theories help to understand literary characters, and the literature provides concrete examples to support the views of psychologists. Based on this thought, the aim of the present study is to analyze the hermeneutics of two Iranian novels “Showhar-e Ahoo  Khanom" (Ahoo  Khoum’s husband ) written by Mohammad Ali Afghani and " The Nocturnal Harmony of Wood Orchestra" by Reza Ghasemi based on Albert Bandura's theory of cognitive-social learning. The research method was a comparative type of qualitative content analysis and method of data collection was documentary. The research findings show that in both novels, the three key presuppositions of Bandura's theory, namely the interaction between people, environmental factors and key characters of the stories, are quite visible. The atmosphere of the stories also shows how observational learning is passed down from generation to generation. Another important finding is that the both novelists have shown that cognitive-social learning is impaired due to the conflict between tradition and modernism and has confused the characters of the stories. From an educational perspective, the present interpretation contributes to our understanding of the role of social change and the conflict between tradition and modernism in accelerating or disrupting the observational learning of the younger generation.

The purpose of this study is to compare the educational Strategies of Britain, Iran, and the United States to prevent drug demand among the young generation. In this comparative study, the researchers used a documentary method to collect data, and a "thematic content analysis" approach for data analysis. The first finding of the study points to the similarity of the three countries in the upward trend in drug use among the younger generation. The second finding is that the criminal policy of Britain and the United States in the fight against drug use is mainly demand-oriented, while the supply-oriented approach is still prevalent in Iran. Another finding reveals the similarity of the criminal policies of the three countries in the field of intolerance of the distribution of any drugs among students. The research findings also indicated that in Iran the variety of drugs (especially psychedelics) is higher but the percentage of students consuming is lower, while in Britain and the United States the percentage of young consumers is higher but the variety of drugs is less. In addition, the research showed that the variety and scope of educational programs and schemes, as well as the active presence of non-governmental organizations in schools to combat drug use in Britain and the United States is greater than in Iran. Considering the findings, it is suggested to the Iran’s legal and educational legislators to make reforms such as emphasizing the demand-based approach, adoption of laws related to promoting the participation of non-governmental organizations, and increasing the coverage of educational strategies to combat drug use

This paper aims to compare ongoing mechanisms, processes, and policies for improving the relationship between university and industry in Iran and Sweden. As methodology, a qualitative-comparative study was applied. The data were collected via semi-structured interviews. Participants included 23 key Iranian and Swedish informants representing both universities and industries in the two countries that were selected purposefully using snowball sampling method. Semi-structured interview was applied for collecting data and analyzed based on coding method. Compared relevant policies and practices indicated that Iran and Sweden are applying two rather different models for bridging the gap between their universities and industries. Despite this, the variety of interactions between these systems in both countries can be considered as their similarities. The findings also indicate that despite the reported needs for close collaborations between the universities and industries in Iran, current policies and practices, including training, laboratory application, and financial support, needs to be revised critically. Additionally, in light of our findings on the Swedish policies and practices for connecting universities and industries, some practical strategies have been suggested towards improving the universities’ relations with industries in Iran.

The present study aims to compare the opportunities and threats of the Internet and considering the rights of kids online in Australia, Brazil, Iran, and South Africa. The research method was qualitative-comparative using Bereday’s approach. The strategy for selection of countries was “different systems, different outputs”. The population included 210 studies from which 45 samples related to research objectives were selected. Primary documents and self-assessment method   were used for increasing the validity and reliability of references, respectively. John Stuart Mill's agreement and difference method was used for data analysis and George Bereday’s method was used for presenting the results. The findings indicated that most similarities are in Internet threats and most differences are in the opportunities created for kids online and considering their rights in these countries. Cyber-bullying and Internet addiction threaten all kids online in such countries. In terms of considering the rights of kids online, Australia is at the top of the list, followed by Brazil, South Africa, and Iran. No serious measure has been taken in Iran to ensure the rights of kids online due to weak infrastructure, low internet speed, and legal gap. Based on the findings, cyberspace authorities and planners in Iran are suggested to take more legal, executive, and educational measures in the framework of international cooperation to achieve the rights and welfare of kids online.

Borrowing modern educational ideas is not an easy process for societies in transition, however, new needs and necessities have made it an inevitable decision for curriculum planners. The purpose of this article is to present the research findings that have been done qualitatively using grounded theory approach. The research population consisted of primary school teachers and the method of sampling was snowball. Unstructured interviews were used to collect data. Data analysis has led to the presentation of a semantic model and the identification of four major groups of cultural, economic, professional and educational challenges for the implementation of the Japanese model of "Lesson Study" in Iran primary schools. Also, contextual and intervening conditions have reduced teachers' interest in this model and increased their attention to competing models such as action research, futures studies and narrative research. To address these challenges and localize Lesson Study model, some of primary school teachers have used three strategies of aggressive, complementary, and diversification

One of the effects of citizenship education is the change of ethnic identity in favor of national identity through the institutionalization of the concept of "common identity" in the younger generation. However, electoral behaviors have shown that individuals' ethnocentric actions can affect the achievement of citizenship education goals.The purpose of this study was to investigate relationship between citizenship education and ethnicity and its effect on electoral behavior at the level of observation and analysis of regions. The research is a comparatively qualitative research using grounded theory. Based on Bray &Thomas Cube, level of observation and analysis were two cities of Bojnourd and Shirvan in North Khorasan province, Iran. The research population included three groups of faculty members, students and secondary school teachers. Targeted sampling method - with snowball approach - was used to select the research sample. Researchers used semi-structured interviews to collect data and content analysis using thematic content analysis. The findings showed the content of textbooks and school activities is not devoted to citizenship education, and existing content of textbooks is not appropriate for ethnic citizenship education. The finding indicates that there are many similarities between each of the two geographical regions in terms of ethnicity and the status of its components, and neither of these components is currently affected by citizenship education. Another finding indicates the lack of relationship between citizenship and ethnicity and electoral behavior in the observed areas. The latest research findings reveal that there is no significant difference between the two communities in terms of each of the factors studied. According to the findings, increasing the content related to modern citizenship education as well as multicultural citizenship education in school textbooks and extracurricular activities in schools seems necessary.