Islamic ideology and its formative influence on education in contemporary Iran

Abstract

Despite the ridiculous claims on the demise of religion in human beings´ everyday life in the shrunk modern world, its continuous and significant role has been considerable in forming new social forms correspondent to Islamic requirements since Islamic revolution of 1979. The undeniable role of Islamic ideology, however, has already been proved by the Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911), nationalization movement (1951-1952), the uprising of 1963 and finally the appearance of Islamic Revolution (1978-1979) after all attempts made under the Pahlavi dynasty towards modernization, westernisation and secularisation of the country during last century.

The main aim is to explore the influence of ideas and values on the development of social structures and processes. In order to examine the degree to which these ideational factors influenced Iranian postrevolutionary educational system, I conducted two fieldworks in a rural area of North Western Iran based on ethnographic study of religion and everyday life in 1995-1996. The focus of this paper will be the study of changes that have occurred in school curricula since 1979. According to findings, the effects of the Islamic Revolution on curricula and textbooks represent a particular interesting compromise between aspects of tradition and aspects of modernity.