Design and Validation of a Conceptual Model for Narrowing the Gap between Intended, Implemented, and Attained Curricula in the Public Education System in Iran

Abstract: The present research aimed at developing and validating a conceptual model for narrowing the gap between intended, implemented, and attained curricula in the public education system in Iran. Two fundamental questions guided this investigation: what model can be developed to reduce the gap between the three mentioned curricula? To what extent does the proposed model gain the approval? The research enjoyed a mixed method, in which different techniques, such as reviewing documents and inferring were employed to formulate the proposed model. Based on identifying the main factors of the gap.Therefore, the structure of this model was placed into 7 categories: theoretical foundations, desirable features of its curriculum, philosophy, purpose, direction, principles, method of which the gap can be narrowed. Likewise, to validate the proposed model, through a purposive sampling method, we sought out curriculum expert opinions, as well as opinions from specialist in the council for curriculum development. All those experts confirmed the validity of the proposed model strongly. the results revealed that developing such a model to suit the requirements of educational system in Iran would be possible.