An Investigation of the Process of Developing the I.R. Iran's National Curriculum

Developing curricula has a complex process in which many needs assessments and pathological studies are conducted before a program is designed. To ascertain that such a process was undertaken in the case of recently designed national curriculum in Iran, a field study consisting of a number of interviews with 9 of the experts involved with this task was conducted. The results are indicative of some incongruence and disharmony in the process of developing the curriculum, and some shortcomings in terms of doing needs assessments and pathological studies, all stemming from the lack of a well-recognized model and theoretical base. The absence of a professional discourse among the experts within the field, and the lack of a common technical language among the members of the developing committee are the other shortcomings of the process.