developing school leadership in a centralized educational ... · developing school leadership in a...

CIDEC

Mohammad Reza Ahanchian Visiting scholar,

Faculty of Education, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Developing school leadership in a centralized educational system: A

case study of Iran

1. Reviewing the context of education in Iran (Which special national qualities have an impact on education?) 2. Reviewing Iran’s education system (Could Iran’s education system be considered as a centralized system?) 3. School leadership development in Iran (What are the main activities for developing Iranian school leaders?)

Presentation objectives:

• Presupposition

National characteristics that have the most

significant contribution to make to the context are:

History Geography Economy

Reviewing the context of education in Iran

• Persian empire

• Middle Age

• Pre-industry

• Modernized

• Physical

• Human

Ancient Iran

Iran in the Middle Age

Pre-industrial Iran

Modernized Iran

History:

Persian empire (559 BC to 651 AC): The main religion was Zoroastrianism, when various races

and ethics were unified as a nation

Ancient Iran

Impact: Multiculturalism

Iran in the Middle Age

Impact:

Scientific progress

Pre-industrial Iran

While governors were

concerned against

external threats and

internal disorders they

took in the European

progress model.

Impact:

Establishing modern institutes

[The first Western style of Universities Dar-ul-

Funun (Persian), (English: Polytechnic), established

in 1851]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_language

Two main factors accelerated Iran’s movement

toward Modernization:

1) Discovering Oil;

2) National ambition for being a developed

country.


• Persian empire

• Middle Age

• Pre-industry

• Modernized

• Physical

• Human

Land Iran ranks eighteenth in size

among world countries.

Impact:

The student population is distributed

with irregular pattern:

low density in rural areas and small towns

high density in large cities

I

.

.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Asia




Climate

° °

Impact

While in the west

and northwest

schools are closed

due to cold

weather and snow,

in the south

students enjoy

going to school in a

nice weather.

Population

Impact

The unstable rate of population

growth has caused unexpected

outcomes for educational planning.

Ethnic Composition

Linguistic varieties

Impact

At the first years of

schools, students whose

mother language is not

Farsi are engaged with

learning a new

language.

Iran has always been a country of rich religious

diversity. Several religions have originated from

ancient Iran like Mithraism and Zoroastrianism.

Islam (Shi’a) is formal religion where there are

three religions recognized by the government as:

Zoroastrianism, Christianity & Judaism.


• Persian empire

• Middle Age

• Pre-industry

• Modernized

• Physical

• Human

Economy Iran is the second largest economy in the Middle

East and North Africa (MENA) region after Saudi

Arabia, with an estimated Gross Domestic Product

(GDP) of USD 366 billion in 2013-14.

Iran is holding the 32 position by nominal GDP.

Impact

Government’s economy is

dependent on Oil, and the

education system’s budget is

dependent on the government.

Administration

.

Administration

The highest authority for educational legislation and policy making is the Supreme Council of Education

The nominated minister must be approved by Parliament

The provincial administrator is appointed by the education minister: same mechanism relying on the hierarchy

City councils and parents cannot intervene in this procedure

Schools and education districts are obliged to implement the predetermined programs under the unified rules

Ministry of Education

Provincial adminstration

Municipal adiminstration

Local adiminstration

Schools

The structure of education in Iran: Reformed in 2012

Level School Grade Age Curriculum core

Primary education

Pre-school Grade 1 6 Learning units for: Language; Religion; Arts;

Nature; Community; Physical education Grade 2 7

Elementary school

Grade 3 8 Math & Science (25%); Farsi Language Studies (20%); Religious Studies (20%); Social Studies (12%); Health and Sport (8%); Arts (8%); Research & Technology (7%)

Grade 4 9

Grade 5 10

Grade 6 11

Secondary education

Junior high school

Grade 7 12 Math & Science (25%); Farsi Language Studies (20%) ; Religious Studies (20%); Social Studies (20%); Foreign Languages (10%); Physical Ed. (2%); Others (3%)

Grade 8 13

Grade 9 14

Senior high school

Grade 10 15

Thre

e

Cat

ego

rie

s Humanities & Social studies

Grade 11 16 Math & Physics-oriented studies

Grade 12 17 Biochemistry-oriented studies Technological &

Vocational schools

Grade 10 15

Thre

e

Cat

ego

rie

s Agriculture-oriented education

Grade 11 16 Industry-oriented education

Grade 12 17 Services-oriented education

Tertiary education

Higher Education Institutes

Bachelor 18 Various categories and programs in various HR Institutions and universities Master 22

PhD 24

More information 1

Schedule

More information 2 Curriculum

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2

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5 6

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8

More information 3

Basic ratios 1: Student/school

12400000 students study in 105000 schools across the nation (2013-2014)

Student/school ratio: 118

105000 schools (2013-2014)

Primary schools 59000 56%

JH Schools 23500 22%

SH Schools 14800 14%

T&V Schools 7000 7%

105000 school Public schools 91000 Student/school ratio: 122

Private schools 14000 Student/school ratio: 93

More information 4 Baisc ratios 2: Student/teacher

12400000 students

Primary schools 6900000 56%

JH Schools 2200000 18%

SH and T&V Schools 3300000 26%

12400000 students Public schools 11,100,000 89.5% (About 9 out of 10 student)

Private schools 1,300,000 10.5% (About 1 out of 10 student)

1015000 personnel Female 535000 53%

Male 480000 47%

1015000 Personnel:

Primary school teachers 358000 Student/teacher ratio: 19.2

JHS teachers 232000 Student/teacher ratio: 9.5

SHS teachers 307000 Student/teacher ratio: 10.7

Administrative staff 61000 -

Others 57000 -

Student/education system personnel ratio: 11.5

More information 5 Financing schools

More information 6 General data

Farsi (Persian) as the first language, is the official and the only language of education

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2

3


4

5

Transportation is not a formal responsibility for schools, but it when paid can be provided. principals control the quality of transportation.

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2

3

There are Four critical questions regarding school

leadership:

Four critical questions for education system

regarding school leadership

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