Curriculum Pattern in the Higher Education of Iran Using an Intercultural Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to design the curriculum pattern for the higher education of Iran using an intercultural approach with qualitative design and the Grounded Theory (GT) method. To study the characteristics of the curriculum with an intercultural approach, after conducting structured interview with 6 experts in the field of curriculum studies and higher education management, the main categories as well as subcategories of the process were extracted during the coding procedure, and as the research results revealed, the categories identified in the paradigm model with axial phenomenon included requirements (2 dimensions, 1 spectrum), objectives (2 dimensions, 1 spectrum), content attributes (2 dimensions, 2 spectrum), teaching – learning methods (1 dimension, 1 spectrum), teacher's characteristics (2 dimension, 2 spectrums), assessment (1 dimension, 1 spectrum), causal conditions (dimensions of internal and external factors in the effective–neutral spectrum), contextual conditions (extra-organizational, intra organizational and trans organizational dimensions in broad–limited spectrum), intermediary conditions (dimensions of internal and external factors in the effective – neutral spectrum), strategies (dimension of intercultural paradigm in the stable–unstable spectrum) and consequences (comprehensive development dimension in the advanced–non advanced spectrum) which displayed the components of curriculum pattern in the higher education of Iran using an intercultural approach. In the end, the final model was presented to validate the GT through focus group method.