Physical and cultural characteristics of instructional spaces in four developed countries from the viewpoints of Iranian parents and students

In the last decades, with the great changes and reforms in the educational systems, the importance of educational spaces has attracted the educational specialists in the developed countries. For making these spaces more attractive, specialists applied different strategies. For this reason, and getting more information about the quality of educational spaces in four developed countries, the present research has been done by the researchers.

The research method was qualitative. For collecting data, many resources were used including library documents, Internet information, archive materials and comprehensive interviews with students and their parents. Research population included students who had been studying for at least three years in developed countries such as United States, Canada, England and Australia who are now studying in Iranian schools. Interviews with their parents were also included. Data analysis was done by coding, classifying, and organizing the data.  Findings of this study are presented in two sections: 1- physical specification of educational spaces, and, 2- cultural climate of these environments. For physical situation of educational spaces, findings indicated that because of the non-centralized or semi-centralized educational system, there were many differences between schools in each state. According to students and their parents, most schools in these countries benefited from suitable and favorable spaces and the classroom patterns were designed according to new teaching methods. Findings of cultural climate indicated that five factors including sympathy, responsibility, accountability, respect, and an enjoying climate were dominated in the schools.