Designing a Policy-Making Model for the Shadow Curriculum in the Secondary Education System
Keywords:
Policy-making, Shadow curriculum, Secondary educationAbstract
The present study aimed to design and validate a policy-making model for the shadow curriculum in the secondary education system by identifying its dimensions, components, and priorities in Tehran’s upper secondary schools. This applied study employed an exploratory mixed-methods design. In the qualitative phase, data were collected through content analysis and semi-structured interviews with 16 educational experts, university faculty members, and experienced educational administrators in Tehran. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis with MAXQDA software. In the quantitative phase, 272 principals and vice-principals of upper secondary schools in Tehran were selected through multistage cluster sampling. Researcher-developed questionnaires were used for data collection. The validity and reliability of the instruments were confirmed through content validity, construct validity, Cronbach’s alpha, and composite reliability indices. Data were analyzed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and one-sample t-tests. The thematic analysis identified 80 basic themes, 16 organizing themes, and five overarching dimensions, including objectives, content, instructors, evaluation, and teaching methods. AHP results indicated that the objective dimension ranked first (weight = 0.332), followed by content (0.246), instructor (0.183), evaluation (0.135), and teaching methods (0.104). The inconsistency ratio was 0.092, indicating acceptable consistency of pairwise comparisons. Furthermore, one-sample t-test results demonstrated that all model validity indicators, including congruence, comprehensibility, generalizability, and controllability, were statistically significant at the 0.01 level, with mean scores significantly exceeding the benchmark value (p < 0.01). The findings suggest that effective shadow curriculum policy-making requires simultaneous attention to objectives, content, instructors, evaluation, and instructional methods. The proposed model demonstrated satisfactory scientific and practical validity and can serve as a comprehensive indigenous framework for guiding the development, regulation, and implementation of shadow curriculum policies within secondary education systems.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Mina Khoshdoni Farahani (Author); Soghra Afkane; Fatah Nazem (Author)
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