Values and morality in Iranian schools

The purpose of this study is to investigate morality in Iranian schools. In particular, the aim in this doctoral thesis is to explore morality and moral values as expressed in official documents of the Ministry of Education and two secondary schools. Thus, three main areas are addressed to raise awareness in this regard: (1) values in the official documents; (2) the life purposes of students; and (3) moral conflicts from the perspectives of students and teachers. This article-based thesis draws together the finding of four original studies. The following four main questions correspond with the results reported in the original studies: (1) What are the values in the Iranian educational system, what kinds of teachers are desired for the Iranian educational system and what kind of citizens are teachers expected to educate? (2) What are the life purposes and purpose profiles of Iranian secondary school students? (3) What are the main themes of moral conflicts identified by Iranian students and teachers and how do the moral conflicts identified by students and teachers differ from each other? (4) What are the religious moral dilemmas that Iranian students and teachers identified? The first step in raising awareness of the values in this system was to study official documents such as The Theoretical Foundation of Transformation in the Educational System of the Islamic Republic of Iran (TFFTES, 2011). This document presents the philosophy and goal of education in the Iranian educational system. Empirical data were also collected from two of Tehran’s secondary schools, one for females and the other for males, in 2016. The students were 12 to 16 years old and the teachers were 27 to 52 years old. First, data were gathered from students (female n = 174, male n = 163) through essays and questionnaires: they were asked to complete a survey that included questionnaires related to life purposes and open questions investigating moral conflicts, and they were given one hour to do so. Second, teachers (female n = 10, male n = 10) were interviewed and asked to narrate their stories about moral dilemmas. Thus, the empirical data included students’ essays, transcripts of interviews with teachers on moral conflicts, and students’ questionnaire responses on life purposes. The study framework combines qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The results of the study are reported in the original articles (Hedayati, Kuusisto, Gholami and Tirri, 2017a, 2017b, 2017c and 2019). Although, according to the findings of the study, values in the Iranian educational context reflect Islamic thinking, what is happening in schools in some areas conflicts with the values and goals promoted in the educational system. In some cases, however, the school context reflects the values in the official documents. According to the official documents of the Ministry of Education, the Iranian educational system and the corresponding teacher education focus on religion, are centralized and systematic, and are based on Islamic values and principles. However, according to what they wrote about their life purposes, Iranian students are self-oriented, concentrating mainly on hedonistic and materialistic pleasure that is in contrast with the Islamic view. Further, content analysis of the students’ and the teachers’ essays revealed four main themes behind the moral conflicts in Iranian schools: 1. Matters related to Staff’s behavior, 2. Matters related to Students’ behavior 3. Sensitive issues; and 4. Matters related to Parents’ behavior. Unfair and aggressive punishments were the most common cause of moral conflict. The school staff administered punishment in response to student violation of school rules. Sensitive issues caused conflicts that reflected Islamic values and principles in the school context: this kind of conflict shows how religion can provoke moral dilemmas. It seems that neither teachers nor students consider the perspective of the other side when a conflict happens. Interestingly, analysis of the essays and of the responses concerning life purposes brought out gender differences among students that is in line with religious, Islamic values in Iranian culture.