Resumen de Establishment of Education Sciences as a Discipline in Iran: Social Demands and Western Influences
«Education Sciences» was established as an academic field of study in Iran in September 1932 by the Iranian graduates who came back to the country from Europe. Here, the main question is whether they merely reproduced what they had learned in the West or they established the discipline taking into consideration the historical factors and according to domestic necessities. To answer this question, this study used a historical method. The results revealed that education sciences was established in Iran based on the historical and socio-cultural developments, which were categorized into three main factors: a) The establishment of Dār ul-Funun (The first modern institution of higher education in Iran) and its major role in prompting the statesmen to establish a modern Western-style educational system, b) Socio-cultural developments occurring between the establishment of Dār ul-Funun and the establishment of constitutionalism in Iran (e.g. widespread perceptions about inefficiency of the traditional system of education and the need to establish a new Western-style educational system), and c) Constitutionalism, which promoted the idea that education paves the way for establishment of new civic institutions and thus it must be reconsidered. It is discussed that all these factors prompted some Iranian graduates of Western universities to establish education science as a discipline in Iran through using the Western-style contents and curriculum for training teachers and providing the manpower needed for new schools.
