Human rights education in Iranian secondary education: gaps in the curriculum

Abstract

This study investigates traces of human rights education in Iran, one of the basic internationally controversial issues in education in general and in Iranian curriculum development in particular. The study basically focused on two areas: a) concepts and components in human rights education and b) the amount of attention possibly paid to these concepts and components in Iranian Secondary Education. Three basic domains of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in relation to human rights education in Iran were considered and the amount of attention possibly paid to these was investigated in the design, administration, and evaluation of curricula for Iranian secondary education. To do this, the viewpoints of teachers, administrators, and experts were collected in a descriptive survey attempt. A researcher-made questionnaire with the Cronbach alpha reliability of 0.88 was used for data collection from 200 teachers, 27 administrators, and 15 experts. To analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The results suggested that the administrators, the teachers and the curriculum planners all agreed with teaching the concepts of human rights expressed in the domains of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Curriculum planners admitted that the amount of attention paid to the concepts and components of human rights was not satisfactory. There was no significant difference between the students, teachers and experts concerning the education of peace. Suggestions and implication for authorities in Iran are discussed in the light of the participants' voices.