مجله پژوهش های برنامه درسی
سال دوازدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 23، بهار و تابستان 1401)

The future is the age of networks, but not technology networks, rather human networks and the age of human intelligence in global networks. In this regard, the role of teachers, as the core players in the education system, their professional development will be increasingly important. The present study aimed to design a model for the professional development of elementary teachers using a future research approach. Research questions What are the key elements of a conceptual model of professional development with a future studies approach?

This applied research used a theoretical framework to identify the concepts that underlie the basic nature and structure of elementary teacher professional development. In addition, the relationships between the identified concepts were examined. In fact, the study method had two dimensions, namely, experimental and philosophical. The empirical dimension of the theoretical framework required an understanding of the real world of the curriculum, which can be achieved through scientific, ethnographic, phenomenological, or other appropriate types of research. The philosophical dimension required detailed knowledge of concepts and theoretical processes involved in the phenomenon under study (Short, 2015). In this study, the researchers utilized a future research approach to develop a model for the professional development of elementary teachers. For this purpose, a field study was conducted using the existing literature and surveys. The research tool was a semi-structured interview. The participants were selected through a purposeful (criterion-based) sampling technique, and the inclusion criteria included the followings: at least 25 years of experience in teaching and a master’s or doctoral degree. Sampling continued up until theoretical saturation was reached. The study sample included 10 elementary teachers, 3 principals, and 2 human resource training experts working in Sarayan Education Department, Sarayan, South Khorasan Province, Iran. The criteria suggested by Lincoln and Cuba (1980) were used to ensure validity and reliability. To assess the transferability of the findings, experts’ opinions were consulted. The reliability of the findings was evaluated by measuring the level of agreement between coders, and peer debriefing was used to assess the validity of the findings.

Based on the findings, the conceptual model of professional development for elementary teachers comprised four elements, namely, religious, cultural and social, political, and economic knowledge. Given the potential weakening of the position of religion in the future and challenges facing this element, religious knowledge was decided to be the basis and axis of professional development in future professional development programs for teachers. According to the findings, teachers’ professional ethics has not received enough attention. Also, cultural and social factors, as one of the four main elements of the model of teacher professional development, should be given due attention because in the future, due to globalization and increasing cultural diversity, future educational environments will be at the heart of cultural exchanges between different countries. Thus, it is necessary to prepare educational stakeholders, especially teachers, for a globalized world in the future. Given that teachers’ voices are not adequately reflected in education policies, effective political strategies and policies, such as decentralization, should be included in future teacher professional development programs. Due to the declining income of families, economic fundamentals should be included in the teacher professional development programs in the future. In addition, the developed model had two dimensions: internal and external. The former included the individual aspect, skills, and content, and the latter entailed technology, organization, and communication. Based on the obtained results, three scenarios, including the desired type, the existing type, and the critical type, can be explained by the model. Finally, it is suggested that teacher professional development programs in the future try to improve teachers’ knowledge and metacognitive and critical skills and foster the development of social status in society, political literacy, participation in virtual and non-virtual content production, national and global identity, professional ethics. Also, such programs need to attract financial and public support and promote technology infrastructure development and specialization in the field of technology.

With regard to technology, it is suggested that low-income schools be provided with basic technology infrastructure, interactive software, and cyberspace on a secure platform. It is equally important that teachers be offered continuous educational courses in applied technology and its integration with education. The current trend of teacher burnout and teacher shortage and the possible continuation of this trend in the future make it necessary that future student enrollment in Farhangian University be decided based on students’ skills and competence. Since some teachers lack the skills required during the process of teaching, it is suggested that future teacher professional development programs provide teachers with study opportunities as well as specialized courses focused on cooperation with the scientific community. These measures are hoped to remove barriers to continued education for teachers. Due to the limited involvement of teachers in different educational decision-making processes, it is suggested that teachers be involved in curriculum design and textbook development. By the same token, it is highly advisable that the macro and micro educational policies be formulated with the help and collaboration of teachers.

Research in the field of education in recent decades has shown that decentralized education systems perform better than educational systems that are centrally managed and organized. One of the reasons for the growing interest in decentralization in education lies in the fact that it devolves decision-making and responsibilities downwards to schools and facilitates the development and implementation of a school-based curriculum. In line with this increasing interest in school-based curricula, the present study aimed to not only identify the categories related to the implementation of the school-based curriculum but also examine the challenges facing the implementation of school-based curricula. To this end, the views of stakeholders (i.e., principals and teachers) involved in the process of implementing school-based curricula in high schools in Kermanshah, Iran, were explored. This research sought to address the following questions: 1- What are the categories related to the implementation of a school-based curriculum? 2. To what extent does the principals’ and teachers’ lack of awareness impede the implementation of a school-based curriculum? 3- To what extent does principals’ and teachers’ lack of professional competence hamper the implementation of a school-based curriculum? 4. To what extent do principals’ and teachers’ esoteric beliefs hinder the implementation of a school-based curriculum? 5. To what extent does the lack of financial resources and educational facilities of schools affect the implementation of school-based curricula?

This research utilized an exploratory-sequential design with an instrument development model. The statistical population included official documents, regulations, instructions, and by-laws in the qualitative section and teachers and principals of high schools in Kermanshah in the academic year of 1401-1400 in the quantitative section. The sample size consisted of 50 principals and 100 teachers who were randomly selected. Qualitative content analysis was used as a tool in the qualitative part of the study, and a researchermade questionnaire was used to collect the quantitative data. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic networks while quantitative data was analyzed by independent t-test and the Friedman test Results Findings showed that the absence of institutionalized organizational culture, lack of financial resources and required hardware, the absence of an appropriate legal mechanism, lack of specialized skills and ability in principals and teachers to implement a school-based curriculum, the absence of rules and regulations for the implementation of school-based curricula, and lack of knowledge, awareness, and training on the part of principals and teachers in the implementation of school-based curricula were among the identified challenges facing the implementation of school-based curricula in the education system of Iran. Overall, the results showed that the attitudes toward school-based curriculum planning were positive, but it is necessary to address the challenges by adopting coherent policies and effective strategies.

Decentralization, as one of the solutions to tackle the current problems besetting educational systems, should be considered by education policy-makers. In this regard, attention should be paid to various types of decentralization, especially the school-based curriculum. In order to implement a school-based curriculum, its respective culture should be institutionalized in the education system at the school level. To achieve this, education system decision-makers have to foster the development of a culture that renders it not only possible but also necessary to benefit from the creativity of teachers and principals in implementing the school-based curriculum.

Adaptation of teaching methods to the characteristics and generational insights of learners is one of the important principles in effective teaching-learning. Today, the use of active teaching-learning approaches, including participatory strategies, is expanding. Certainly, the application of a participatory teaching-learning approach tailored to the needs, desires, and skills of students leads to the creation of numerous and diverse learning opportunities for students. In contrast, the assignment of academic activities which do not correspond to the generational characteristics of students reduces their motivation and results in academic failure. Therefore, identifying the requirements of participatory teaching-learning for today’s generation of students is one of the most important issues in higher education. The aim of the present study was to explore and identify such factors involved in the participatory teaching-learning process based on the needs, interests, and skills of BA students. In this regard, the present study sought to answer the following questions. Research Questions 1- From experts’ opinion, what are the most important requirements of a participatory teaching-learning approach tailored to the needs, interests, and skills of today’s undergraduate students? 2- From the faculty members’ point of view, how appropriate is each of the requirements of participatory teaching-learning to the needs, interests, and skills of undergraduate students? 3- From the perspective of undergraduate students, how appropriate is each of the requirements of participatory teaching-learning to their needs, interests, and skills?

This study used an exploratory sequential mixed method design. The research method was content analysis in the qualitative part and descriptive survey in the quantitative part. The participants in the qualitative phase included experts in the two fields of educational and social sciences. Targeted snowball sampling continued with 31 participants until data saturation was reached. The statistical population of the quantitative phase consisted of professors and BA students from the two faculties of educational sciences and social sciences at the University of Tehran and the University of Isfahan. A sample of 121 professors and 349 students was selected using Cochran’s formula with the quota sampling method, proportional to population size (optimal allocation). In the qualitative part, semi-structured interviews were used to collect data while in the quantitative part, a researcher-made questionnaire, developed based on the indicators extracted from the analysis of the interviews in the qualitative part, was used to collect quantitative data. Eight experts confirmed the content validity of the questionnaire and interview questions. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed, with a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.93. In addition, the four criteria of credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability were used to enhance the rigor of the qualitative data. Thematic analysis (interpretive structure modeling) was used to analyze qualitative findings. In the quantitative phase, descriptive-inferential statistics in SPSS (version 25) were used for data analysis. Results According to the research findings, the most important requirements of the participatory teaching-learning that met the characteristics of today’s BA students were as follows: using group lesson activities, forming virtual science groups, adjusting the class layout in a face-to-face format, grouping students based on scientific support, grouping students based on talent diversity, encouraging scientific competition with a focus on its collective benefit, and, finally, encouraging group success.

In this study, the generational characteristics of today’s students, along with other contextual factors, were considered in determining the requirements of participatory teaching-learning. University instructors can benefit from the results of this study. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the application of these requirements can increase students’ academic motivation and their scientific growth. Satisfying the requirements of participatory teaching-learning and other active and effective teaching-learning methods can foster learning. Thus, it is recommended that universities provide the necessary platforms to unlock the full potential of participatory learning. Furthermore, it is hoped that universities hold training courses and workshops to acquaint instructors and students with the skills required to benefit from this educational approach and encourage instructors to employ this method. To maximize the benefits of this educational participatory approach, instructors should define learning activities in a way that enhances group participation in real and virtual spaces and adjust the placement of students in the classroom in a way that facilitates face-to-face discussion. Finally, it is suggested that instructors encourage students to provide their peers with scientific support and group them in a way that spreads talents equally across the classroom, ergo promoting collective success.

The purpose of this study was to conceptualize the sex education curriculum with an emphasis on the role of family and school. This research adopted a qualitative approach to develop a grounded theory emerging from the data. A semi-structured interview was used to collect data. The study population consisted of all experts and social and cultural activists, including psychologists, sexual behaviorists, counselors, midwives, educational sciences, law enforcement, sociologists, lawyers, and policymakers, who were active in the areas related to the research topic. Theoretical sampling was used to select the participants, and 32 experts were interviewed. In the first phase of theoretical sampling, 10 experts were interviewed. Then, the initial codes, concepts, and categories, known as substantive codes, were extracted, and open coding continued until the core category, which was the central category accounting for most of the variation in the pattern of behavior, appeared. Afterward, the second phase of sampling was conducted based on the core category. Once the main category was found, selective coding began. During this coding phase, only the concepts related to the main category were coded, and the coding continued until theoretical saturation was reached. Four criteria of fit, work, relevance, and modifiability were used to determine the validity and reliability of findings. Regarding the fit criterion, only the categories emerging from the data were collected, and the researchers intended to take a non-evaluative approach. Core and theoretical codes were also extracted from the participants’ speeches during the interview. Workability means that the categories and the way in which they are related to hypotheses explain the behavior that is occurring in an area of study; that is, workability explains how participants’ main concerns are being continually resolved. In this study, the theoretical codes were derived directly and indirectly from the participants’ quotes. Memos helped to interpret the decisions of individuals or actors in the field. Relevance was achieved when the extracted categories fitted the main concerns of the participants and the developed theory dealt with those main concerns. Modifiability is demonstrated when concepts, their properties, and the substantive theory readily accommodate new data. In the present study, modifiability was achieved by constantly comparing the emerging theory with the data. In fact, the theory was constantly being modified. Findings indicated that, in general, family-based sex education entailed a set of parental interventions related to children, the environment, and teaching and learning special parental skills and goals, such as human excellence, desirable sexual future, and sexual health. These interventions included educational, supervisory-protective, managerial, supportive, social, and moral-spiritual interventions. Parents’ special skills included the acquisition and promotion of sexual knowledge, communication skills, and emotional-attitudinal skills. The two substantive codes of individual differences and interpersonal similarities were the characteristics of family-centered sex education. Parental activism and the educational role of family members and peers were considered kindred activism (substantive code). Furthermore, school-based interventions included educational, supervisory-protective, participatory, cultural-artistic, and scientific interventions. The roles of school staff, including the principals, teachers, counselors, etc., were considered separately. The implementation of school-based sex education was associated with the categories of management-organization, individual factors, participatory factors, ease of implementation, and general action Open codes were further examined and family-based sex education rationale and schoolbased sex education approaches were identified as the core variables. In addition, sex education cultural discourse was identified as the final theoretical code. In other words, it can be stated that the conceptualization of a sex education curriculum depends on the balance between different cultural discourses. By ignoring the concept of sex education cultural discourse, the whole nature of the family-school sex education curriculum loses its function because presently the social context provided for the cultural discourse of sex education dominates all other discourses. However, this discourse is not the dominant discourse in policy-making, the public sphere, and academic contexts in Iran. Sex education is a cultural and social issue, and the roles of family and school in sex education are affected by cultural and social factors. At the same time, the results showed that the roles of family and school were not limited to education. Therefore, decision- and policy-makers at the macro-national level are recommended to pay utmost attention to the cultural discourse of sex education as the most important factor in family and school sex education. To achieve this, all related programs and activities have to be developed in line with maintaining the centrality of familyschool sex education.

In our contemporary world, knowing English, as a global language, is a necessity because it allows people across the world to share their experiences and keep themselves up to date with the latest developments in the world. The expansion of communication between different countries, on the one hand, and the development of mass media and the emergence of the concept of ‘global village’, on the other hand, highlight the need for learning English, as a lingua franca, to communicate with other people and communities in the world more than ever before. Therefore, since this global language facilitates interaction with the world, learning English has been identified as a major priority by many people across the world. This necessity is most noticeable in educational centers. However, various studies have shown that most students in Iran are not able to use English correctly or establish a simple communication in English though they spend many hours in school learning English. Similar to school students, university students are not able to communicate in English, and the status of English among university students is as unfavorable as is among school students. Despite the fact that English is the dominant language in various fields of science, most students in various fields of study do not pay enough attention to learning English. Although English language teaching in Iran officially begins at school, it seems that pupils have difficulty learning and using it effectively. Basically, there is a big gap between what is and what should be. Therefore, the present study aimed to introduce an executive model, informed by English language teaching experts, for improving English language teaching in the Iranian education system. Undoubtedly, examining the situation of English language teaching in a country as large as Iran with more than fourteen million school students and nearly four million university students is of great significance and can cast light on some important and practical issues surrounding language learning and teaching. English is mentioned in the national curriculum of Iran and is referred to as one of the eleven areas of education and learning. The present study, as an applied research, adopted a qualitative approach to study the English language teaching and learning in the Iranian education system using a datadriven method. This study, by adopting an exploratory (inductive) approach, sought to develop and introduce a data-driven model. Since the existing models and theories offer no convincing explanation for the current situation of English language teaching and learning in Iran, this study aimed to bridge this gap by exploring English language teaching and learning in the Iranian education system. The study population included English language instructors at three levels, including school, university, and private English language institutes. Accordingly, a reference and specific group of 27 teachers who, according to administrators, language learners, and language learners’ parents, had considerable skill and expertise was selected. Of these teachers, 11 were school teachers, 5 were university teachers, and 11 were language institute teachers. The data were analyzed and 158 open codes were identified. These codes were categorized in the form of causal factors (individual, pedagogical, ecosystemic), contextual factors (family conditions, macro strategies of the education system, peer group and colleagues, requirements for achieving scientific and professional goals), intervening factors (the status of the society, resources and facilities, the interest in and understanding of the need for teaching/learning English reflected by educational and cultural authorities, the general attitude toward foreign languages), central phenomenon (English language teaching-learning process), strategies (the national and transnational approach to education, infrastructure development, creation of new insights into foreign languages), and consequences (realization of the expected goals of the education system, motivated and efficient human resources, any new language, familiarity with a new world). The proposed model of the process of teaching and learning English in the Iranian education system is hoped to provide researchers, English language teachers, and, most importantly, decision- and policy-makers with various strategies to improve the learning and teaching of English in the Iranian education system. The results of interviews with experts showed that the realization of an appropriate approach to teaching and learning English in the Iranian education system required complex conditions and equipment as well as coordination and communication between various stakeholders. The diverse needs and goals of different language learners in different age groups with different educational contexts, as well as the inadequate provision of appropriate conditions and facilities for teaching foreign languages in Iran, in which English is not treated as a second language, implies that the road ahead is bumpy. Finally, the complex social and political realities of Iran require comprehensive and extensive language planning, in which the concerns of English language experts and teachers are addressed.

Along with other types of education, virtual education has been popular for many years. Presently, due to the global Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent closure of schools and other educational institutions, the need for virtual education has become more and more apparent to everyone. The main challenges facing virtual education in elementary school can be broadly divided into four categories: 1. challenges related to teachers, 2. challenges related to students, 3. challenges related to parents, and 4. infrastructure challenges (Dehghani, Azad Dolabi, & Taamoli, 2021). Different countries have adopted different strategies to optimize virtual education. For example, some elementary and middle schools in Japan have taken steps to integrate virtual education into formal education (Murai and Muramatsu, 2020). In Finland, teachers worked in pairs and shared their work environment (Iivari, Sharma, & Ventä-Olkkonen, 2020), and in China, schools created a database to increase teachers’ information literacy in some primary and secondary schools (JU & YU, 2020). However, according to some teachers, virtual education is very time-consuming and has blurred the line between teachers’ personal and professional life (Anderson & Hira, 2020), leading to teacher burnout. A review ofthe literature revealed that each of the previous studies has addressed only some of the challenges and none has dealt comprehensively with all challenges. Also, the solutions offered to these challenges are somewhat general. Therefore, in the present study, a phenomenological approach was adopted, and in-depth semi-structured interviews with primary school teachers were analyzed to cast light on their engagement with virtual education and their strategies to optimize it.

1. How did primary school teachers engage with virtual education? 2. What strategies did primary school teachers adopt to optimize virtual education?

Given that the present study aimed to investigate primary school teachers’ engagement with virtual education and their strategies for its optimization, a qualitative approach and descriptive phenomenology were used. In total, 15 participants were selected using purposeful sampling, and data were collected using semi-structured interviews until theoretical saturation was reached. Colaizzi’s seven-step coding method was employed to analyze the data.

Regarding the first research question, the results of the interviews led to the identification of six main themes, which indicated different dimensions of primary school teachers’ engagement with virtual education. The themes identified included the following:vocational-technical skills, evaluation of students’ learning, effective interaction between teachers and students, parental involvement in virtual education, and infrastructure challenges. As regards the second research question, the analysis of the semi-structured interviews resulted in the identification of 29 strategies.

The results indicated that elementary school teachers had ambiguous ideas about the role and function of virtual education. Furthermore, the strategies adopted by them to optimize virtual learning reflected their tendency to generalize their understanding of face-to-face learning to virtual learning. Therefore, in this regard, it is necessary to provide a platform for primary school teachers to understand the potential and functions of virtual education as well as its limitations.

Although there has been a gap and inconsistency between the intended and attained curriculum of the “experimental sciences” course, as one of the basic components of the school curriculum for elementary school students, no research has yet been conducted on
explaining the factors causing this gap from the perspective of teachers, who are the main implementers of the intended curriculum.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes of the gap between the intended and attained curriculum of the “experimental sciences” course in elementary schools from the perspective of teachers.

The research approach was qualitative. The statistical population of the study consisted of teachers in Tehran province, and the participants were selected using a purposive sampling method, including criterion and snowball sampling. Data were collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews, and it was continued until theoretical saturation was reached in the eighteenth interview. To enhance the validity of the findings, items such as participants’ feedback, data triangulation, data triangulation, member checks, and peer review by external observers were used.

Data analysis using Colaizzi’s method led to the identification of four main themes and 14 sub-themes. The main themes included the causes related to curriculum specialists and executive staff (i.e., how goals are set by curriculum specialists), causes related to how the curriculum is planned (i.e., how the intended curriculum is designed and compiled), causes related to the manner of implementation, monitoring, and support of the curriculum, and causes related to the necessary facilities and equipment (i.e., physical equipment).

Findings showed that extra attention paid to knowledge goals, on the one hand, and neglect of other curriculum goals, including attitudinal and functional goals when setting goals, on the other hand, have given rise to the gap between the intended and attained curriculum of “experimental sciences” in elementary schools.

Current educational approaches are changing in response to the challenges following the Covid-19 pandemic. These changes are intended to improve the efficiency of the education system in preventing and dealing with global threats and crises, such as the one caused by the Covid pandemic. Covid-19 posed a serious challenge to the economy, culture, education, sports, etc. and had a profound effect on people’s lives all around the world. In Iran, as in other parts of the world, the pandemic led to the closure of schools and universities. This massive disruption in education, particularly higher education, brought to the fore the issue of e-learning and online education. In 2005, online methods were introduced by UNESCO as the most effective teaching-learning methods. The experiences gained in this regard since 2005 are very useful. It seems that the education system can no longer rely exclusively on the previous models of teaching and learning. Thus, it must undergo structural changes and make virtual learning available to more and more students. Following the global outbreak of Covid-19, the need for virtual and e-learning is felt more than ever. Lane (2009) believed that virtual education, as opposed to traditional education, could present major challenges for teachers and students trained and taught in the traditional way. In other words, without technical and educational support, e-learning and teaching cannot welcome to its fruition. On the other hand, Anas (2020) argued that traditional education had positive social aspects that virtual education did not enjoy. Also, research has shown that virtual teaching causes some problems for teachers and educational centers (Maggio, Daley, Pratt, & Torre, 2018). However, there are opportunities to mitigate the potential negative effects of elearning, and teachers are expected to play a key role in creating these opportunities. Despite the importance of virtual education during the Covid-19 pandemic, limited research has been done on the use of information technology in virtual education in Iran. Therefore, this study aimed to explore teachers’ perspectives regarding the following questions: The challenges teachers faced with virtual education during the Covid-19 pandemic, any constraints that they noticed in the education system, what opportunities teachers thought e-learning created in the education system during the Covid-19 pandemic, and, finally, to what extent teachers approved or disapproved the challenges and opportunities that were created in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The present study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. In the qualitative part, the upstream documents and past research were examined and semi-structured interviews were conducted. In the quantitative part, a researcher-made questionnaire based on the analysis of documents and interviews was used. The analysis of the interviews in the qualitative section led to the identification of 55 open codes (items) and10 codes in the axial and selected coding stages. Based on the elementary school teachers’ views in Marvdasht, the challenges that emerged within the educational system during the Covid-19 pandemic can be classified into three levels: macro, middle, and micro. Challenges at the macro level included the lack of strategic thinking, inefficient policymaking, limited educational technology, and inefficient management. At the middle level, the challenges were the weakness of the introduced technology, the lack of independence and freedom of action, and increased budget disruption. At the micro level, the challenges concerned teachers, students, and families. In the quantitative section, a high percentage of agreement showed that teachers in the quantitative section agreed with their peers in the qualitative section with regard to what they considered as challenges. In addition, according to the participant teachers, the opportunities created in the education system during the outbreak of Covid-19 can be classified into three levels. Opportunities at the macro level included providing the ground for change, paying attention to strategic planning, and giving special heed to virtual training. At the middle level, the opportunities consisted of providing equal educational opportunities andpromoting educational innovation. At the micro level, opportunities were related to teachers, students, and families. Overall, it can be said that in the beginning, e-learning in Iran faced some challenges in terms of design and implementation due to the lack of necessary coordination and logistics. However, the provision of free internet packages by the government to teachers and students, special educational programs on television, and electronic training packages in the form of flash memory and compact discs for students in remote and deprived areas of the internet reduced the problems. Gradually, as students became more familiar with the “Happy Network Platform” (the virtual education application and system used by schools in Iran), their participation in classroom activities increased, they made more noticeable progress, and, ultimately, the quality of instruction improved. Therefore, irrespective of the advantages and potential disadvantages of virtual education, its importance and necessity cannot be denied in our era

An educational setting is a creative and unique place in which students’ development and proper orientation take place. Faculty members’ daily lives include constant decisionmaking, which is a complex process of contemplation, evaluation, and analysis. Every instructional action is the outcome of a decision made, either consciously or unconsciously, by teachers following extensive processing of available information. Faculty members make decisions about lesson content, class motivation, resource use, incentives or disincentives, and numerous other issues involved in the daily routine of classrooms. These decisions can, but not necessarily, have far-reaching and profound consequences for the success or failure of the faculty’s daily work and future activities. As a result, the attempt to improve the faculty’s decision-making in curriculum planning is aimed at offering crucial solutions to improve educational outcomes, student performance, and the higher education system. A complex and interconnected set of internal and external forces, such as historical, ideological, cultural, social, political, economic, individual, and organizational factors, affect the faculty members’ curriculum planning decisions. Thus, a deep understanding of these factors can lead to the identification of needs, limitations, and opportunities, which, in turn, can affect faculty members’ curriculum development and innovation. As a result, the current study sought to develop a model of the processes involved in Birjand University faculty members’ decision-making in curriculum development. This study used a qualitative approach based on Strauss and Corbin’s reformulated grounded theory. Grounded theory, which is based on a set of empirical relevant data, is a method used to gain knowledge about a subject that has not been thoroughly researched before and for which the existing knowledge is limited. In implementing the grounded theory, the researcher must use a specific technique for analysis, use phased coding (open, axial, and selective), and present the results in the same paradigm model. The statistical population of this study included all Birjand University faculty members, of which 21 were chosen through purposeful sampling. The inclusion criteria were having more than 5 years of experience and teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels. Sampling continued until theoretical saturation was reached. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 21 faculty members from various fields (i.e., educational sciences and psychology, basic sciences, literature, and engineering) that had sufficient experience to provide researchers with expert opinions pertinent to the research topic. Four criteria introduced by Lincoln and Guba (1985) were used to ensure the trustworthiness of the findings. These included credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. Member-checking, or participant validation, was used to ensure credibility. The findings were shared with experts to make them transferable. Concerning dependability, the inter-coder agreement was used. Finally, peer review and feedback were used to enhance the confirmability of the results. The results revealed 32 core concepts and 13 categories, which were collated to develop a paradigm model. The following themes constituted the model: lack of scientific rigor in classroom decision-making (as the core category), causal conditions (extraorganizational, environmental, and motivational factors), contextual factors (behavioral factors, programmatic factors, and support factors), facilitating intervention conditions (managerial, structural, and behavioral factors), limiting intervention conditions (organizational-environmental challenges and implementation obstacles), strategies (decision-making based on previous structures, situational decision-making, conservative decision-making, and interactive decision-making), and the consequence (decreased effectiveness and efficiency) of the organization. Based on the findings of this study and the significance of faculty members’ decisionmaking, it is necessary for universities to improve the faculty’s level of knowledge and their “scientific” decision-making skills by implementing an educational program and providing them with the necessary support. In this regard, since faculty members’ decisions can influence students’ educational and business future, it is suggested that the faculty members’ decisions concerning curriculum development be considered and analyzed from a cultural, psychological, economic, and sociological standpoint. Furthermore, due to limited research on the intuitive and logical factors driving the faculty members’ decision-making, more research is needed to focus on faculty members’ curriculum development decisions in relation to students’ characteristics, class dynamics, and organizational context. Also, the nature of these decisions, the factors affecting them, and their effect should be examined. The findings of this study can deepen understanding of and shed light on faculty members’ and teachers’ decision-making in the classroom.

One of the factors playing an important role in improving the quality of the curriculum, especially that of children with special needs, is the quality of teachers’ teaching. Considering the limited budget resources devoted to the education system and the need to use these resources optimally, identifying the variables affecting the quality of teachers’ teaching is of great significance and provides the basis for genuine academic progress. Among the effective factors in improving the quality of teachers’ teaching are cognitive factors such as content knowledge, cognitive skills, teaching experiences, and teaching emotions (positive or negative) experienced by teachers during the teaching process. The quality of teachers’ teaching can have positive or negative effects on students’ learning. Previous research shows that most studies examining factors influencing the quality of teaching have mainly focused on cognitive factors, such as teachers’ subject knowledge, cognitive skills, and educational experiences (Kington, Sammons, Day & Regan, 2011). However, the emotional aspects of teaching and teachers have been paid less attention, even in recent research (Anttila et al., 2016). Any research shedding light on these aspects of teaching can provide useful information to educational planners, policymakers, and school administrators and, especially, help teachers increase their positive emotions and self-efficacy. This, in turn, can improve the overall status of the educational system and facilitate curriculum implementation.

1. Can epistemological beliefs predict special education teachers’ self-efficacy? 2. Can epistemological beliefs predict special education teachers’ teaching emotions?

This research adopted a descriptive survey and applied design. The statistical population included all primary teachers working in special needs schools in Mazandaran province in the academic year 2018-2019. The teachers were classified into three groups: mentally retarded, blind, and deaf. The study participants were selected from teachers in Babol, Mazandaran province, using cluster sampling. Three questionnaires, namely, Schommer’s epistemological questionnaire (1998), teacher emotions questionnaire (Frenzel et al., 2014), and teacher self-efficacy questionnaire (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), were used to collect data.

The results showed that the total score of self-study with learning ability (r = -0.29), simple knowledge (r = -0.24), quick learning (r = -0.29), and the total score of epistemological beliefs (r = -0.34) had a negative and significant relationship. However, the relationship between definite knowledge and self-efficacy was not significant (r = 0.18). The results showed that the comprehensive involvement component had a negative and significant relationship with learning ability (r = 0.33), simple knowledge (r = 0.27), and epistemological beliefs (r = 0.31). The learning strategies component had a negative and significant relationship with quick learning (r = 0.27), definite knowledge (r = 0.39), and epistemological beliefs (r = 0.23). The classroom management component had a negative and significant relationship with learning ability (r = 0.22) and quick learning (r = 0.22). The results showed that among the components of epistemological beliefs that were entered into the regression equation, only learning ability was found to be a predictor variable (Beta = -0.32, P < 0.01). The value of F = 10.02 (94, 1) revealed the statistical significance of the relationship at the level of 0.01. The adjusted squared multiple correlation was 0.09, which shows that about 9% of the variance in teachers’ self-efficacy can be explained by the learning ability component. The results showed that the components of simple knowledge (Beta = -0.48, P < 0.01), definite knowledge (Beta = -0.31, P < 0.01), and learning ability (Beta = -0.27, P < 0.01) entered into the regression equation as predictor variables. The value of F = 17.95 (92, 3) showed the statistical significance of the multivariate relationship at the level of 0.01. The adjusted squared multiple correlation was 0.35, which shows that about 35% of the variance in teachers’ sense of pleasure in teaching can be explained by the components of simple knowledge, definite knowledge, and learning ability.

Considering the fact that epistemological beliefs predicted the special education teachers’ self-efficacy, the findings showed that the three components of the epistemological belief of inherent ability, simplicity of knowledge, and quick learning had an inverse and significant relationship with teachers’ self-efficacy. Among the components, the inherent ability to learn was found to predict self-efficacy. Teachers who believed that knowledge was simple, learning was dependent on innate abilities, such as intelligence, and learning can happen quickly and not gradually felt low efficiency in teaching students with special needs. On the other hand, teachers who believed that knowledge was relative and complex, the ability to learn was acquired, and students’ learning can happen gradually felt more worthy and efficient in their teaching and were more likely to use appropriate educational tools to improve their students’ learning. Given that epistemological beliefs predicted special education teachers’ teaching emotions, the results indicated that, except for the definite knowledge component, there was a positive relationship between the components of epistemological beliefs and negative emotions in teachers. In other words, the ability to learn had a negative relationship with pleasure and a positive relationship with shame. In conclusion, it can be said that the teachers had cruder epistemological beliefs than expected.

Today, it is rare to find a country that has not experienced considerable socio-cultural transformation. In this regard, maintaining national unity and cohesion in societies that have cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity is far more difficult and complicated than those societies where there is more cultural homogeneity. The political system, policies, and government-driven strategies can promote or undermine national unity. One of the factors that can play a significant role in maintaining solidarity and increasing national belonging among students is the educational system. The aim of the current research was to investigate the representation of national cohesion in Iran’s primary school textbooks. The research paradigm was interpretive, and the research approach was qualitative. The study data was collected through purposeful sampling and included the following textbooks taught in primary schools in Iran: Social Studies, Persian Literature, and Heaven Gifts, which together consisted of 25 volumes. Open and axial coding techniques were used for data analysis. The research findings included 533 concepts, 77 subcategories, and 87 primary categories. After the classification of categories, 11 main themes were identified in the content of textbooks. These themes were common land, cultural heritage, religion, literature and art, flag and anthem, transnational culture, Persian language, civilization heritage, common history, religious holidays, and national heroes and notables. National cohesion and identity have been among the most important topics for all countries in the world. Preservation of national territorial integrity and socialization of students depend on how national identity and cohesion are represented in the educational system of a given country. In this regard, the educational system, as a means to transmit cultural, religious, national, social, political, gender, and ethnic values, can play a pivotal role. The results showed that the promotion of national cohesion in Iranian primary school textbooks suffered from some weaknesses. First, the teaching of national identity and cohesion did not follow logical principles. Furthermore, in some cases, some components of the above-mentioned themes were repeated blandly. Thirdly, the space dedicated to these themes in textbooks was hardly enough. Categories such as religious values and traditional gender roles were among the more prominent categories. Also, of the three dimensions of Iranian national identity, namely, Iranianness, Islamism, universality or modernity, only the dimension of Islamism was taken into consideration and the other two dimensions were neglected. Another problem related to the representation of national cohesion in textbooks was that specialized sources were not consulted. There was an imbalance in the use of national cohesion components in textbooks, and some components were emphasized more than others. The results highlight the significant role that textbook developers, curriculum planners, and educational policymakers can play in the representation of national cohesion. First of all, it is necessary to assess educational needs and collect feedback annually from teachers teaching in different regions regarding the quality of curriculum in terms of content quality, students’ needs, the needs of society, and the current cultural and social exigencies. One of the main and most important responsibilities of curriculum planners and textbook developers is to ensure that all ideas are given fair and enough space in textbooks and that ethnic minorities and their concerns are not marginalized. In this regard, experts in the field should be involved in the process of designing and developing textbooks. As regards the representation of national unity in textbooks, it will be counterproductive to be selective and include only a few elements that have the least impact on maintaining national unity. It is necessary to redefine the category of national cohesion and try to avoid idealism in content development. Students deserve to be provided with a comprehensive description of national identity. For example, regarding the motherland as one of the components of national unity, the contribution of ethnic groups to maintaining the territorial integrity of Iran should be clearly and fairly reflected in textbooks. Generalizations should be avoided, and efforts should be made to reduce the gap between Iranian ethnic groups, which is another main responsibility of curriculum planners. Finally, the way the realities of the society are reflected in upstream documents is idealistic. Thus, it is suggested that those involved in preparing and developing upstream documents have a more realistic view of society and a more open-minded perspective on cultural, social, and educational issues. The discourse governing the textbooks of primary schools in Iran is a mere religious discourse. In other words, it can be said that these textbooks are more concerned with religious rather than national cohesion. Therefore, it is necessary for educational policymakers to reevaluate the discourse governing textbooks. A constructive starting move can be to give more space and voice to ethnic and cultural components, which, in turn, can promote convergence and empathy among different ethnic, cultural, and social groups in Iran.

Few studies have been conducted on comparing the comprehension of active and passive sentences. The processing and comprehension of passive sentences have puzzled linguists for over 40 years, and much of the research on this issue has targeted the healthy adult population, children acquiring their first language, and people with aphasia. However, few studies have tried to examine the comprehension challenges that foreign language learners face in perceiving the active and different types of passive structures. Studies of passive sentence processing present a heterogeneous picture. While some studies do not show any evidence of processing difficulty in passive comprehension, other studies have reported that learners make more mistakes when using the passive structure. These accounts do not provide enough evidence regarding the difficulty in processing passive sentences. Sentence processing is associated with the idea that syntactic information is important for successful language comprehension. Not all theories agree on the nature of syntactic representations or the relative importance of information sources that are non-syntactic, but almost all assume that structure-building (parsing) operations are critical to successful comprehension. The present study sought to compare the comprehension difficulty of active and passive sentences. To this end, this study investigated whether passive structures were really more difficult to be understood than active structures and whether different types of passive sentences (i.e., regular, irregular, action, state, double-objects, negatives, and questions) differed in terms of difficulty. The study was hoped to present a reliable taxonomy of passive structures based on their levels of difficulty faced by intermediate Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Most teachers of English as a second language believe that teaching the passive voice is one of the difficult areas in teaching grammar. The source of this difficulty is attributed to the non-standard argument order of passive sentences. Three main proposals have been introduced to account for passivization difficulty: syntactic complexity, heuristics, and frequency of use. However, compelling evidence supporting any of these accounts is lacking. EFL learners are likely to encounter passive sentences in different contexts, such as newspapers, blogs, online forums, magazines, and books, and learning passive structure in grammar and how to use it, especially in writing and speaking, is crucial for them. The significance of this study lies in examining the comprehension development of passive sentences in an EFL context. To collect data on the comprehension difficulty of sentences, 204 male and female participants with an intermediate English proficiency level were recruited through non-random convenience sampling from B.A. students majoring in English. A set of 90 short active and passive sentences were presented to the participants using an online multiple-choice comprehension test. The sentences differed systematically in their grammatical forms; in addition, to ensure reliable experimental conditions, the length of the structures varied from 6 to 9 words derived from the same language domain (general English) for all sentence types. The participants were asked to read a sentence (either active or passive) and choose a corresponding item from a multiple-choice online test in a limited time. This instrument enabled the researchers to achieve exact results about how learners comprehended passive and active sentences. Furthermore, the test used in this study was different from the instruments used in other similar studies in that it took account of both the judgment and the speed of comprehending English passive sentences. The answers were analyzed in terms of the elapsed time and the success rates using paired samples t-tests and ANOVAs. According to the results, the participants needed less time to comprehend active sentences and had a higher success rate in dealing with active sentences compared with passive sentences. The results also suggested that different passive verb types imposed different degrees of comprehension difficulty on EFL learners. That is, passive structures with regular verbs were the least challenging, followed by passives with irregular verbs, action verbs, question and negative passives, passives with state verbs, and finally passives with double-object verbs. Syntactic and sentence processing is very significant in comprehending texts and, thus, teaching EFL. Few studies in the area of EFL learning and teaching have focused on how similarly or differently L2 learners process the input compared to native speakers. A great number of students without sufficient knowledge of the passive structure mostly face comprehension difficulties. They mostly encounter a series of continued failures during their studies due to the bad experiences they underwent from the beginning. Students need a high level of proficiency in grammar to comprehend linguistic input. Learners’ prior grammatical knowledge, including that of the passive structures, significantly affects their language comprehension. Familiarizing EFL learners with different passive structures can enable them to gain control and awareness over a wide range of passive types. The results of this study encourage EFL instructors and material developers to devote more time to the more challenging passive structures.