Head of OERP: School Textbooks Are Media

Head of OERP: School Textbooks Are Media

Deputy Minister and Head of Organization for Educational Research and Planning (OERP) stressed that a school textbook is not solely a means for education and merely containing a set of data, but is also a medium featuring pedagogical aspects.

According to Public Relations and International Affairs at the organization, Dr. Hasan Maleki in a press conference attended by journalists, answered to a question on why in learning packages and school textbooks, pedagogical issues are marginal whereas they sound to be of important functions in education.

He said: “In Transformation Plan, this subject is prior to other ones and in our educational system as well as in the Islamic thought, pedagogy takes precedence over education. According to the so-called thought, if people are trained so as they intend to learn science, they may better manage their own lives and can be useful in the society. We will undoubtedly, more than the previous years, seek to consider school textbooks as media rather than solely as learning tools containing a set of data and information.”

He added, "That is why we are moving toward learning packages. Textbooks are of significance, yet if they merely become curriculum contents, they will not be efficient. Textbooks ought to provide scientific, social, economic and political education; hence, Transformation Plan’s six spheres should be regarded in this way. School textbooks are known as a component of learning packages, but the fact is that they feature a limited space and the fulfillment of training maneuvers are difficult in them. This is while learning packages have a broad space.”

Preschool planning committees in OERP have been activated

About the details of content production for preschools and kindergartens, Head of Organization for Educational Research and Planning noted: "The Law has entrusted content preparation for kindergartens and preschools to Ministry of Education and our organization. Furthermore, the Supreme Leader lately referred to this issue in a meeting attended by the ministry’s presidents and ordered this entity to take effective measures in this regard.”

"Therefore, we have activated the preschool planning committees and intend to plan the necessary curriculum for this stage. However, we will not directly produce content but will invite certain individuals active in this domain to assist us.”

Dr. Maleki said: "Whether for kindergartens or preschools, we will most likely have produced the required content entrusted to us by the Law by 2021. The younger the age, the higher will be the subtlety of content production, an issue which requires using trained experts.”

About education in COVID-19 era, Head of OERP asserted, "Training guides in varied conditions were prepared and communicated. Regarding the school textbooks volume, we chose some part of them for self-study, yet this is not what we desire and more precise plans will be provided for the next year.”

The organization can alter the books content

 

Regarding authors’ legal and intellectual property, Dr. Maleki stated, "When an author writes a school textbook, he/she has no legal or intellectual property over it, an issue mentioned in contracts. Organization for Educational Research and Planning has the right to change the textbooks content according to cultural and social conditions and the nation’s interests, as well.”

“Nevertheless, this measure is better to be taken by consulting the authors so that a better choice can be made and any dissatisfaction may not occur; yet, if the author is not available for any reason, the organization has the right to make the intended changes.”

Nomads’ textbooks to be adapted

On shortcomings of the school textbooks adaptation for nomadic students, accepting the absence of appropriate steps in this area, Dr. Maleki posed: “Here, we did not make a proper adaptation, an issue that is currently one of our major concerns; thus, this year, we will take more fundamental measures considering the content of nomads’ school textbooks.”

 

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