The Current State of Arts Education in Iran: A Case Study in Two Elementary Schools Using Educational Criticism

The central aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the recently revised elementary curriculum for arts education in Iran. The study employed an educational criticism method and was conducted in two elementary schools. Data were collected by observation, semi-structured interviews and curriculum documents over a four-month period. The research participants consisted of 12 professionals (teachers, coordinators and principals), and 30 students (8-12 year-olds from different cultural backgrounds). According to the results of this study, the schools' architecture and environment do not promote creativity, active participation and engagement in the learning process. The general and specific objectives, the content areas, the time allocated to the teaching of each area, teaching methods and assessment procedures have been clearly defined in the official curriculum documents for arts education. Nevertheless, the areas of painting and occasionally handcrafts are the content areas which are taught to students using direct methods of teaching and students' performance is often evaluated by traditional tests. The study concludes that the current arts curriculum has not been successful, or not as successful as it was intended to be. The most common obstacle to effective arts teaching, however, is the lack of a place for arts within the school programme similar to that of science and mathematics. Lack of enough well-trained teachers with an educational background in arts education is another obstacle that needs to be addressed in future revisions of the curriculum.