Reflection on the Iranian Academic General Curriculum in the Globalization Era
Subject Areas : Curriculum Design and Development
1 - Department of Educational Innovation and Training, Institute of Research and Planning of Higher Education, Tehran, Iran.
Keywords: Globalization, Higher Education, General Curriculum, Selected Documents,
Abstract :
The academic general curriculum is of great importance alongside the specialized curriculum; this field is not only limited to the subject of human knowledge and scientific disciplines, but is also related to the development of personal capabilities, such as the creativity and intellectual abilities, transfer of cultural heritage and values, and the evaluation of committed and accountable citizens. The present study aims to investigate the various areas of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) in the academic general curriculum in Iran. This is an applied research wherein, a qualitative content analysis method, the thematic analysis (themes), has been applied to the two levels of the selected documents (the law on the goals, duties, and organizations of the Ministry of Science, the comprehensive scientific map of Iran, and Iran''s sixth development plan) and syllabuses of the general courses approved by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. The data collection tools included content analysis, note-taking, and a checklist. A descriptive-analytic method was applied to interpret and analyze the data. Based on the research findings, the level of contents associated with globalization has a significant degree of severity and weakness from one course to another in terms of the qualitative aspect. It is certain that most of the contents related to the components of globalization often have indirect links and regarding the positive, negative, and neutral aspects, it can be claimed that the neutral aspect is of considerable significance compared to the other aspects. The qualitative content analysis of the documents and syllabuses of the general courses was done and subsequently, the obtained scheme indicates that the existing approach to the GCE in Iran is a combination of political and civic education approaches, cultural transfer, and the neo-liberal approach, and hence, the educational system should try to train global citizens with Iranian–Islamic identity. Among the important points in the analysis of the documents is a lack of distinction between globalization and internationalization.
Aghagolzadeh, F., & Davari, H. (2014). Globalization and expansion of English, necessities and requirements for
using critical approaches to deal with English in Iran. Quarterly of Culture Strategy, (25).
Arefi, M., Ghahremani, M., & Rezaeizadeh, M. (2009). The necessity and practices of improving the curriculum of
general courses from the view of students and faculty members of Shahid Beheshti University. Quarterly of
Curriculum Studies, 3(10), 94-129.
Farasatkhah, M. (2016). Qualitative research method in social sciences with emphasis on "theory based "(Grounded Theory of GTM). Tehran: Aghah Publishing.
Farmihani Farahani, M. (2010). Citizenship education (history, approach, objectives, principles, necessity,
dimensions, expansion, adaptive studies, curriculum). Tehran: Aijj Publication.
Gordon, D. (2014).Curriculum integration versus educating for global citizenship:A(disciplinary) view from the
international relations classroom, Frontiers: the Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad.
Hakimzadeh, R. (2010). Globalization, internationalization of higher education and interdisciplinary curriculum. (8)2, 1-17.
Hamdi, K., & Rezghi Shirsavar, H. (2013). The evaluation of performance of Universities in improving citizenship
education in metropolitans of the country. Cultureal Management, 5(13).
Howe .H (2014) Global citizenship education from across the pacific: A narrative inquiry of transcultural teacher
education in Japan, Cultral and Pedagogical Inquiry, 6(1), 25-42.
Keshavarz, Y. (2011). Globalization and necessity for citizenship education. Quarterly of Strategic Studies.
Kromydas, T. (2017). Rethiking higher education and its relationship with social inequalities: past knowledge, present state and future potential. Palgrave Communications, 3(1), 1-12.
Mir Ahmadi, H. (2016). Globalization of Azad University. Translation (Ballamtine Books: New York, 1995).
Mohammad Pour, A. (2013). Qualitative research method of anti-method 1. Tehran: Publishing Sociologists.
Rapoport, A. (2014). Global citizenship themes in the social studies classroom: teaching devices and teachers,
attitudes , the educational forum,77(4),407-420.
Rashidi, Z. (2017a). Study of global citizenship education in the university curriculum of Iran .Research project,
Institute for Research and Planning for Higher Education.
Rashidi, Z. (2017b). Conceptualization of global citizen from the view of experts in higher education: a background study, Quarterly of Research and Planning in Higher Education, 23(2), 93-114.
Rashidi, Z. (2017c). Globalization and the necessity of general education in global citizenship education. Higher
Education Letter, 10(38), 103-126.
Rosic, I. (2007). "Dual citizenship in the context of globalization, identity and belonging debate". Theses and
dissertations.
Sparapani, EF, Callejo Perez, D., Gould, J., Hillman, S., & Clark, L. (2014). A Global Curriculum? Understanding
Teaching and Learning in the United States, Taiwan, India , and Mexico , SAGE Open April- June , 1-15.
Stoner, L., Perry, L., & Wadsworth, D. (2014). Global citizenship is key to securing global health: The role of higher education , Preventive Medicine,126-128.
Takkac, M., & Akdemir, A. (2012). Training future members of the world with an understanding of global
citizenship. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences, 47.
Yarmohammadian, M. (2016). Principles of educational planning, Book Remembrance.
Zohbyun, Sh., & Elyasi, F. (2014). Analysis the relationship between sustainable development and global citizenship curriculum. Publisher, Sevilleka.
