Iranian Journal of Comparative Education
Volume:6 Issue: 2, Spring 2023

The purpose of the research was to investigate how the authors of third-grade mathematics textbooks in Iran and Japan pay attention to the teaching of critical thinking components. This is a comparative research using "different social systems, different educational outputs" strategy for the selection of the sample. Also, data collection and analysis methods were documentary and integrated content analysis respectively. The first finding indicated that the topics of mathematics education in the primary schools of both countries are almost the same. The second finding shows that special attention has been paid to the use of different methods to solve problems in Japanese math textbooks; so that in most cases pupils are asked not to use only one solution. Another finding reveals the difference between the two countries in terms of the use of practical and concrete issues for children; in a way that in the Japanese math textbook- unlike in Iran -, all the lessons and problems are related to the daily life of the students. Another difference is related to the way of summarizing the topics of each chapter. In the Japanese math textbook, students are taught how to take notes on what they have learned and use them for further learning. Also, at the end of each chapter, questions are designed related to the entire topic, which is similar to the chapter review section in the Iranian math book. However, in the Japanese math book, next to each question, the book guides students to which page to refer to - if they do not know the answer to that question – and read the related material again.

This article investigated the contents of secondary high school chemistry textbooks in Iran and Malaysia regarding occupational readiness components. The method was comparative qualitative using George Bereday's approach. The data was collected by the documentary method. The research sources included primary sources (Iranian secondary chemistry textbooks in grades 10, 11, and 12 and Malaysian supplementary secondary chemistry textbooks in Forms 4 and 5) and secondary sources. Data analysis was performed using content analysis and included the review of text, images, questions, and activities in primary sources. The findings showed that the textbooks of the two countries have similarities. In both countries, the attention to recognizing and discovering occupational opportunities was more than other components. Both countries were almost the same regarding performing manual and physical skills. The concepts discussed in the chemistry textbooks of Malaysia and Iran was similar. Also, the results showed some differences between the chemistry textbooks of the two countries. Pictures and texts related to career preparation in Malaysian textbooks provided better guidance to students about choosing a career. The attention to acquiring occupational skills presentable in the labor market in Iranian chemistry textbooks was less than other components while manual and physical skills had the least attention in Malaysian chemistry textbooks. An interesting point in the Malaysian books was the inclusion of a section namely “the Career Kiosk”, which provides information on chemistry-related careers. According to the findings, it is suggested that more content related to occupational readiness is included in chemistry textbooks of Iran secondary high schools, especially in the field of acquiring occupational skills presentable in the labor market and manual and physical skills. Appropriate pictures and activities could be used to guide students' future careers.

The Fundamental Reform Document of Education is the most important upstream document for the realization of the goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the field of education. The aim of this research was to restore and update this document through a systematic review of its criticisms and problems. Based on the findings, the three basic criticisms of the document are the idealism of the goals, extreme centralism and sloganeering, and politicization. Also, the findings indicate that the need for cooperation and decision-making for the implementation of the document, weakness in the provision of specialized human resources and lack of funds are among the most important challenges for those involved in the implementation of the document. Findings related to the reform approach reveal the need of the document to revise and establish a balance between basic concepts such as types of identity and adding neglected topics such as creativity, tolerance, democracy, citizenship rights and freedom. Also, the findings of the research on the implementation approach reveal that part of the implementation challenges of the document are related to the political structure of the country and relations between different social organizations. In addition to this, the findings of the research revealed that in the supplementary approach, the proposals based on the updating of the document can be divided into two general groups i.e. concerns related to the difference between the document and social realities of Iran & global society; and attention to the shortcomings of the document in issues such as sex education, education of exceptional children and environmental education.

The spread of English as an international language has made it essential for Iran and Iraq to have effective teachers. The emotions experienced and the emotion-regulation strategies used by 659 (349 in Iran and 310 in Iraq) English language teachers enrolled in high-schools were investigated in 2021. This was a cross-sectional survey, studied Iranian school teachers from Kerman Province and Iraqi teachers from Basra Province. To collect the data, three online questionnaires on emotion regulation, psychological well-being at work, and teacher emotional labor strategies were submitted to English language teachers either in person or via email. Correlations showed that emotion regulation and its aspect (cognitive reappraisal) and emotional labor strategies correlated positively with teachers’ well-being both in Iran and Iraq. Furthermore, the preferred mode of emotion regulation in both contexts was cognitive reappraisal. Iranian and Iraqi teachers experienced the same level of emotion regulation and well-being, implying a common sense of emotions among teachers. The level of emotional labor strategies employed by Iranian and Iraqi teachers, however, differed significantly. In comparison with Iraqi teachers, Iranian teachers used more emotional labor strategies. In brief, curriculum and educational planners should take steps to support teachers in regulating their emotions, which contributes to their well-being.

The purpose of this research was to compare the trend of presenting concept of fractions in second to fourth grades mathematics textbooks in Iran and Japan, and also to examine what topics of fractions these textbooks present. The method was comparative-qualitative research, the statistical population was the countries of the world, and the selected sample was the two countries of Iran and Japan. The strategy of choosing countries was "different social systems, different educational outputs". The data collection method was done through the examination of primary and secondary sources, such as mathematics textbooks of Grade 2-4 of primary schools, related articles and books, and available documents in official and government databases. Bereday Model was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the concept of fraction has been introduced in two countries from the second grade and using the part-whole subconstruct, and these textbooks have similarities and differences in presenting the concept of fraction. Among these similarities, we can mention the concept of fractions greater than unity and mixed numbers. Among the non-common topics, we can mention the discrete representation of the part-whole subconstruct in Iranian textbooks and the conversion of a fraction larger than a unit to a mixed number and vice versa in Japanese textbooks. The lower performance of Iranian students in the concept of fractions in TIMSS compared to Japan shows that in the common topics, only a greater number of pages and more problems in the textbook will not help, and it is necessary to review and revise Iran's mathematics textbooks in common topics on the subject of fractions.

Communicative language teaching (CLT), as an approach of English language teaching (ELT), has been evidenced to provide opportunities for learners’ participation through putting interaction at the center of language teaching and learning. However, few studies to date have investigated how EFL teachers’ capability in applying CLT can be developed in the classroom contexts. To fill up this gap, a teacher education program (TEP), based on the strategies of classroom interactional competence (CIC), was implemented with two experienced and two novice EFL teachers serving as participants. To do this, initially sixteen hours of video- and audio-recorded data of the participants were analyzed to identify the samples in which they neglected the opportunity for CLT. Then, instructional sessions according to CIC strategies were dialogically held by the teacher educator with each of the teachers, during which the teacher educator attempted to expand teachers’ insight into the strategies they adopted to apply CLT. After instructional sessions, the analysis of the recorded data demonstrated novice and experienced EFL teachers’ noticeable progress in CLT implementation at different levels. Moreover, the findings indicated that EFL teachers applied a variety of CIC strategies in the classroom contexts.

The purpose of research was investigating school principals’ professional development processes in Iran and England. This is a qualitatively comparative research using strategy of "different social systems, different educational outputs" for selection of selected countries. The method of data collection was documentary (primary and secondary sources) extracted from international databases and the Ministry of Education homepages of the two selected countries. Data analysis was through Bereday and Mill methods. The findings showed that, the policies and general principles of the principals' professional development programs are centralized with direct supervision of the Ministry of Education and its subordinate organizations. Other finding revealed that the implementation of professional development processes of school principals in Iran is mostly based on theoretical discussions, principals’ experience and organizational agency, while in England, individual agency is dominant and principals' professional development programs is mostly based on practice, experience and supervision of the primitive competencies of the school’s principal. Some programs of the England educational system in principals' professional development programs - such as establishment of the "National College for School Leadership (NCSL)", "National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH)" and development of qualifications- can be used to improve the Iran’s school principals professional development programs.