investigating the feasibility of establishing the workplace curriculum in Iranian universities

Abstract The present research aims at investigating the feasibility of establishing the workplace curriculum in Iranian universities. This research seeks to answer the following question: Is it possible to establish the workplace curriculum field at the Iranian universities to train specialists in this field? The present study is qualitative research in terms of the purpose, nature, and implementation facilities. Semi-structured interviews with ten workplace curriculum specialists were used to conduct the research. Since this research focuses on the workplace curriculum, the critical case sampling method was used in this research. The information of the interviews was analyzed using the content analysis method. Based on the findings, the opinions of workplace curriculum specialists were categorized into three groups of proponents, conditional proponents, and opponents of establishing this field. Then, the roles and capabilities of the workplace curriculum graduates and their expected competencies were identified. Based on the finding of the research,the opinion of the education specialists in response to the necessity of establishing a field at university are divided into three thematic categories as "factors related to the field of curriculum studies", "factors related to similar fields and university majors" and "factors related to the workplace".Then, by analyzing the content of the experts' opinion in response to the topic of "preconditions necessary for the establishment of university field", two thematic categories of "executive conditions", "scientific conditions" and sub-themes were introduced. At the end, the roles , abilities and competencies of the graduates were examined.