Formalizing Goals and Objectives in Iranian Educational System: A Historical Analysis

Formalizing goals and objectives within any organization is influenced by many socio-historical factors. To identify the trend in which educational goals and objectives within the Iranian educational system have evolved in terms of the approach, pattern, performance, and attending to individual differences, a historical analysis was undertaken. Findings are indicative of four eras: first, the compulsory formal schooling era from 1909-1952, second, the compulsory, and free schooling era from 1953-1964, third, the social/educational reform era from1965-1987, and fourth, the Islamic era from1988-2018. The approach taken in almost all eras, and unlike the second stage of the fourth era, has been one in which competencies are not emphasized. The pattern, too, has been hierarchical and single directional. As a result, in practice, the goals and objectives have leaned mostly towards being reductionist and solely used for the purpose of determining what needs to be done in different school subjects. Although in all eras, the development of individual abilities has been, more or less, the main focus of the curriculum planners, but the hierarchical and single directional formalization of the goals and objectives has been the main obstacle on its achievement. The main reasons for this failure are the gap between decision makings at the higher levels of the organization and the practice arena, limited experience and expertise, lack of understanding the implementation complexities, and not having enough attention paid to the role played by the implementers as the main players.