Phenomenological analysis of the challenges and opportunities of decentralization of high school curriculum with emphasis on multiculturalism and cultural heritage

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of university professors in relation to the challenges and opportunities of decentralization of curriculum development in high school with an emphasis on multiculturalism and cultural heritage. This qualitative research was performed using phenomenological method. In this study, semi-structured interview method was used. For this purpose, data were collected by interviewing 15 professors (Professors of educational sciences in Tehran universities) who had research and teaching experience in this domain which was analyzed by Streubert and Carpenter (2003) method. The analysis of the interviews identified four main themes, including cultural challenges, social challenges, economical and structural challenges, and 19 sub-themes in the form of opportunities and challenges, including: flexibility, comprehensive participation, rejection of predetermination, focus on the interests of the child, non-prescriptive nature, avoidance of prejudice, practicality, attracting financial participation of the target community, avoidance of wasting resources, loss of bureaucracy, direct communication between developer and learner, risk of rupture cultural, ethnic and cultural hatred, cultural narcissism, risk of community fragmentation, risk of ethnic self-determination, the high cost of resources, the lack of a unified structure, and the confusion of mining.