Moral Dilemmas in Iranian Schools Identified by Students

• In Event: 25.051 - Applied Moral Problems in Globalized Current Societies

Abstract

This paper examines moral dilemmas in the context of Iranian schools identified by students (N = 340). Iran is an Eastern country in which the educational system has been under the influence of spiritual and moral principles of Islam since the Islamic revolution in 1979 (Mehran, 2003). This de-secularization or Islamisation resulted in changes in main areas of educational system of Iran (Paivandi, 2012). This dominance of religious-political ideology of Islamic Republic makes Iran a unique context to study moral dilemmas.

Previous studies on moral dilemmas in schools have shown that teachers and students views on solving problematic situations differ (Tirri, 1999). Further, it has been found that moral dilemmas in schools are context specific (Tirri, 1999). Since the previous studies have been conducted in Finnish schools, this study will provide knowledge about moral dilemmas in Eastern and Islamic cultural context. This broadens theoretical and practical understanding of moral dilemmas in schools as well as provides insights to moral nature of teaching and learning. This research contributes to school pedagogy and teacher education, since it increases our understanding of moral dilemmas teachers may encounter in Islamic contexts.

The data was gathered from one female and one male lower secondary school in Tehran in 2016. The students (female n=175, male n=165) were 12 to 16 years of age who wrote about unfair situations they had experienced at school and reflected on the right reaction in these situations. Students’ moral dilemmas were analyzed with deductive content analysis, in which Tirri’s (1998, 1999) four categories were utilized as an analytical framework. Moral dilemma in educational setting is a problem situation among different relationships in a community that deciding about the right decision is complex and different sides have different perspectives on what is good.

The empirical findings reveal that moral dilemmas identified by Iranian students have four main themes: 1.Teacher behavior including, grading, punishment, deciding without investigation, Physical punishment, insulting, discrimination and shouting 2. Staff Behavior (Principal and assistant principal) including physical punishment, deciding without investigation, school rules, insulting, punishment and shouting 3. Harassing including bullying and humiliating, 4. Peer relations including friendship and interpersonal behavior and 5. Religious matters including boundaries of intimacy, doctrinal issues and dress rules. The boys and girls show differences regarding their moral concerns. Physical punishments were more common among male students than female. Instead, religious moral dilemmas were only identified by female students. The paper discusses main categories and subcategories and how boys and girls are different in their moral concerns.

Authors

• Nasibeh Hedayati, University of Helsinki

• Elina Kuusisto, University of Helsinki

• Khalil Gholami, University of Helsinki

• Kirsi A. Tirri, University of Helsinki