Education System
According to the British council, “primary education in Iran is compulsory under the Iranian constitution. As a general rule, primary, secondary and higher education is free, although private schools and universities do exist and are permitted to charge tuition fees. According to government figures, over 95% of Iranian children currently receive primary and secondary education. All schools are single-sex. English as a second language is introduced from grade 7” in Iran. The academic year runs for 10 months (200 active days) from September to June. There are three terms: September–December, January-March and April-June”.
School Education
The structure of the school education system in Iran is based on five cycles and special provision is made for gifted and special needs children, as well as for minority groups, refuges and for non-formal education.
1) Pre-school (1 year cycle, children aged 5)
2) Primary (5 year cycle, children aged 6-10)
3) Middle (Guidance) (3 year cycle, children aged 11-13)
4) Secondary (3 year cycle, students aged 14-17)
5) Pre-university (1 year cycle, students aged 18)
Pre-school Education cycle
Feature: A one-year program for five years old children, children receive the basic notions, no exam at the end and children proceed automatically to the next cycle.
Primary Education cycle
Feature: covers grades 1-5 for children 6 to 11 years old, free and compulsory, exams at the end of each year, at the end of the grade 5 nation-wide examination, only qualified students precede to the next cycle.
Middle (Guidance) Cycle
Feature: covers grades 6 to 8 for children 11 to 13 years old, general education, abilities as well as the interests of students are recognized, students prepared to decide which branch (academic or technical/vocational) they intend to choose next, At the end students take a regional examination under the supervision of provincial boards of education. Those who pass the examination are eligible to proceed to the next cycle i.e., secondary cycle (Iran-embassy, 2010).
Secondary Education cycle
Feature: covers grade 9 to Grade 12, from age 14 to 17.
Secondary education is divided into two main branches namely,
a) Academic/general
b) Technical/vocational.
The selection of branch is up to the students themselves.
According to Iran-embassy (2010) “the academic branch, also known as the "theoretical branch" is divided into four mainstreams namely, literature and culture, socio-economic, physics-mathematics, and finally experimental sciences. The technical/vocational branch is particularly designed to train technicians for the labor market. This branch covers three mainstreams namely, technical, business/vocational, and agriculture. There are specific subject and performance requirements for admission to some secondary programs”. National examinations are conducted at the end of each grade during the secondary cycle, students complete a number of units during their three years of secondary education, and must obtain 96 units within this time in order to be awarded the High School diploma (Diplom-e Mottevasseteh).
Pre-University education
Those students who have wished to enter Higher Education must take a one-year pre-university course, at the end of which they obtain a ‘Pre-University Certificate’. This certificate then qualifies students to sit for the highly competitive National Entrance Exam (Konkur), success in which is imperative in order to gain a place at university.
Higher Education
Admission to state universities is based on successful placing in the competitive National Entrance Exam (Konkur). (There is a separate Konkur for entry into the private university system). The first degree (Licence/Kar-Shenasi) usually takes four years and is awarded on a credit system (153 units and an overall score of 12 or more out of 20). Masters degrees usually take two years to complete, and Ph.D students may study for a minimum of 3 years and a maximum of 6 years (British Council, 2010).
There are currently well over 1 million students pursuing courses in Iranian universities, over half of these at private universities. Iran has 52 state universities and 28 medical universities, as well as a significant number of government research institutes. There are 25 private universities, including the Islamic Azad University, which has branches all over the country (British council, 2010).
Curriculum Development
The Ministry of Education supervises some educational researches and curriculum development. It has also the responsibility for providing textbooks for all pre-university educational courses and prints 747 titles in 100 million copies a year (Iran-embassy, 2010).
The Centre for Educational Technology, part of the Organisation for Research & Educational Planning, produces and distributes supplementary audio and visual materials for schools. The CET is also responsible for developing the Roshd national intranet for schools. The administration of the curriculum and facilities within Medical Universities is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health (British Council, 2010).
GNP spending on Education Sector
Iran is spending 5.6 percent of its GNP on education.
Literacy Rate 76.0 %
Illiterate Population 10.6 million
Source: 2000 figures estimated by UNESCO Institute for Statistics, July 2002
National Literacy Goals
YEAR 2005 2010 2015
Total adult literacy rate (%) 85.2 89.1 92.1
Female adult literacy rate (%) 82.6 87.7 91.7
Male adult literacy rate (%) 87.7 90.5 92.5

Definition of a Literate Person
A person is literate who can with understanding both read and write a short simple statement on his/her everyday life (UNESCO 2007).
The Grading System
According to Iran-embassy (2010) “promotion through the Iranian education system is based on end-of-year examinations at primary, intermediate, and secondary cycles, and end-of-term examinations (sometimes both middle- and end-of-term examinations) at post-secondary cycle. At primary, intermediate, and secondary schools, system of grading is based on a 0-20 scale. An average scale of at least 10 is required for promotion. At the post-secondary level a system of grading based on a 0-20 scale is used too. The letter grade equivalents are
A = 17 – 20
B = 14 - 16.9
C = 12 - 13.9
D = 10 - 11.9
The minimum grade for a subject credit in undergraduate programs is 10, in graduate programs is 12 and in PhD. programs is 14. The Grade Point Average (GPA) of 12 in undergraduate programs and 14 in graduate programs is required”.
Public and Private Education:
Public schooling is the dominant system in Iran's education system. However, in the big cities like Tehran there are also large numbers of private schools to serve the many students in the area (unescobkk.org, 2010).
Teacher Education
ITT/Pre-Service Teacher education
The two Ministries responsible for most post-secondary education are the Ministry of Culture and Higher Education (MCHE) and Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MHME) while the Ministry of Education also has jurisdiction over some post-secondary programs such as primary and guidance teachers training colleges and Higher Institutes of Technical and Vocational Education.
The primary as well as guidance schoolteachers are trained in a number of various institutions under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. Secondary school teachers are trained in universities under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture and Higher Education. Teacher training centers affiliated with the Ministry of Education train primary and guidance schoolteachers. There are several centers, which perform this task as follows:
Rural teacher training centers
Because of the shortage of teachers in rural areas, the Ministry has established specific institutions for training teachers who will be teaching at rural areas. After finishing the guidance cycle (grade 8), students will be trained in special institutions for the duration of four years. After graduation, they will teach in schools in rural areas, the Ministry also sent conscripts as teachers in rural areas e.g. one thousand conscripts started their work at rural areas in the academic year 1989-1990.
Primary school teacher training institution (grades 1-5)
After finishing grade 10 in the high school, some students who are interested in teaching will be admitted to this special teacher-training program which lasts only two years. The graduates of this program are entitled to teach in either rural or urban primary schools.
Guidance cycle teacher training centers (grades 6-8)
For the purpose of training qualified teachers for grades 6-8, the Ministry admits students who have already graduated from the high school and hold their diploma through a nation-wide examination. They are required to study for another 2 years in teacher training institutions. Both primary and guidance teacher training institutions offer wide range of courses which lead to the award of an Associate Diploma. These institutions offer courses in 14 streams. Each student is supposed to specialize in only one stream. The major streams are as follows:
· Primary education
· Persian language
· English language
· French language
· Experimental sciences
· Social sciences
· Mathematics
· Vocational and technical training
· Islamic ethics and Arabic language
· Art
· Fostering affairs (Child development)
· Physical education
· Children with special needs:
· The geniuses
· Blind and partly blind
· Deaf and partly deaf
· Mentally retarded, teachable
· Unsociable and physical defects
Secondary school teachers are trained at tertiary-level institutions, which are affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Higher Education. In order to qualify for teaching in high schools, teachers must have a Bachelor degree for both the academic and technical streams. There are two ways to qualify: One is that a holder of a Bachelor degree in a field other than education completes a one-year teacher-training program; The other is that a secondary school graduate completes a four-year program leading to a Bachelor of Education. The latter can be done in two stages in two years each. At the end of the first two years, a graduate may choose to receive the Associate Diploma, which qualifies him/her to teach at the guidance cycle level.
The main universities, which are devoted to the task of training secondary school teachers, are listed below. It should be remembered that only students with High School Diploma who pass the national entrance examination (KONKUR) are entitled to continue their post-secondary studies at these institutions:
o Tarbiat-E Moalem (Teacher Training) University, Tehran
o Faculties of Education at major universities
o Colleges of Education, Ministry of Education : (Vocational and technical teachers)
o The faculty of education at the University of Tehran trains educational specialists and not classroom teachers.
o Several major universities, e.g. Tabriz, Mashhad and Isfahan offer postgraduate degrees in education.
o At the higher education level, there are a few private teacher-training colleges. The largest private institution is the Azad University.
Teacher Training Centers are responsible for training teachers for elementary, lower secondary (guidance), and exceptional children’s schools. These centers offer two-year programmes leading to a Fogh-Diploma (associate degree). Students that attend Teacher Training Centers, have diverse educational backgrounds. At minimum, students have completed the guidance cycle of education; most have completed upper secondary school. A national entrance examination is required for admission (Embassy of The Islamic Republic of Iran, 2010).
In order to teach at the upper secondary level, in theory, a Kar-shenasi (bachelor’s) degree is required; however due to a shortage of teachers, schools have been compelled to use teaching staff with other educational backgrounds. Teachers are trained in universities and higher institutes. There are seven teacher-training colleges in Iran (World Education Services, 2004).
Academic Year
September through June, with two semesters; note that students attend classes Saturday through Thursday.
Admission Criteria
As stated in Tarbiat Moallem University website admission to undergraduate as well as MA/Msc programmes is through the National Entrance Examination which is held once a year nationwide by the Ministry of Science Research and Technology, but admission to PhD programmes is done by the university independently.
Induction
Induction programs are not seen in Iran for teacher training.
In-Service Teachers Training:
Teachers in public schools are required to be engaged in in-service education. In-service education is used by the Ministry of Education as a tool to manage change in the education system. The teachers who pass in-service education programs are eligible to receive a certificate for their training. In-service certification would be considered an important factor in teachers' evaluations and add to their credentials. Teachers have to pass several assessments after they start their in-service programs at universities. Schools have contracts with universities and send their teachers to these universities to pursue in-service credentials.
In-service education and postgraduate teacher education at Universities involves study at the postgraduate (i.e., Master’s level). The Master’s degree programs on offer at this level related to Education include Education (Curriculum Planning, History and Philosophy of Education) and Physical Education and Sports Sciences (Payame Noor University, 2007). In some Universities , the Department of Foundations of Education offers some graduate/postgraduate programs.
These include Educational Administration, Curriculum Development, History and
Philosophy of Education, and Educational Research at the Master’s level, and
Philosophy of education, Curriculum Development, and Educational Administration at PhD level. At the postgraduate education level the Departments of Boy’s Physical
Education and Girl’s Physical Education offer Master’s and PhD programs in Motor
Learning, Motor Development, Sports Administration and Sports Physiology (Tarbiat
Moallem University, 2007).
Summary/Conclusion
Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran, the educational system of the country has gone under qualitative and quantitative changes. As far as quantitative changes are concerned, this education profile provides an overview of the Iranian education system. Iranian education system has two outstanding characteristics which are as follows:
a) Elementary education is mandatory under the Iranian constitution
b) In general, education (in primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels) is free of charge though private schools and universities authorized by law are allowed to charge tuition fees
While in Iran due to increasing number of applicants, admission to post-secondary institutions is through a nation-wide entrance examination and thus only the most talented students can enter universities and I criticize on this educational policy for the admission in university because then only few persons of the nation get the chance to enter in universities for their higher studies that is much important and for the growth and better development of the country. Only students with Diploma who pass the national entrance examination (KONKUR) are entitled to continue their post-secondary studies at the universities while this additional diploma is not more needed because the students are already pass their nation wide examination and to spend further one year for the preparation of this exam that is fake activity because especially to get higher studies becomes very tough for the female students. While all other education system and teacher education system is very similar to Pakistan in all other aspects.
References
British Council. (2010). Education in Iran. Retrieved November 25, 2010, from