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Iranian National Art Curriculum, and Discrimination: How a Multicultural Education Reform Can Help
Abstract
Some of the main characteristics of the modern world are racial, cultural, ethnic, social, religious, and linguistic diversity. Although international and regional laws are in place to prevent racial, religious, gender, and age discrimination, much of the world still suffers from discriminative opinions, attitudes, and behaviors against some ethnic, cultural, and social minority groups. Iran is not an exception. As far as education is concerned, are there any tools to address the roots of discrimination? How can a curriculum based on multicultural understanding learning help reform the education system? By considering Banks' (1995) dimensions of multicultural education of content integration and equity pedagogy, this project aims at a content analysis of the Iranian National Art Education Curriculum to explore how much the components of multicultural education have been incorporated and embedded. For this purpose, the presentation reviews and analyzes the Iranian National Curriculum, 3rd edition, based on the five different sections of Art Education within this document. The analysis findings suggest making the Iranian art education programs genuinely diverse and multicultural might address some of the deep-rooted cultural discrimination. In addition to content analysis, this project and presentation benefit from educational methodologies and multicultural theories.
Discipline
Education
Geographic Area
Iran
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries