Designing a Social Entrepreneurship Model for Iran’s Education System

Hafezeh  Sheykhalslami; Nagi Kamali; Mohammd  Mojtabazadeh

doi:10.61838/h1rs7g06

Authors

Hafezeh Sheykhalslami PhD Student, Department of Educational Sciences, Za.C., Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8459-7530
Nagi Kamali Department of Educational Sciences, Za.C., Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5841-9259
Mohammd Mojtabazadeh Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Administration, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3664-1339

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61838/h1rs7g06

Keywords:

Educational Justice, Grounded Theory, Institutionalization of Social Entrepreneurship, Iran’s Education System, Social Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aimed to design a social entrepreneurship model for Iran’s education system.

Methods and Materials: This study employed a qualitative approach using systematic grounded theory. The participants consisted of 24 teachers, school principals, educational experts, and faculty members who were selected through purposeful and subsequently theoretical sampling. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. To ensure data trustworthiness, qualitative research quality criteria were met, and coding reliability was verified.

Findings: The findings revealed that the social entrepreneurship model in Iran’s education system is centered around the core phenomenon of “institutionalizing social entrepreneurship in schools.” This phenomenon is influenced by causal, contextual, intervening, strategic, and consequential conditions. The most prominent extracted categories included bricolage and creative resource mobilization, the attitude and self-efficacy of educational actors, the social entrepreneurship curriculum, experiential and service-learning, the school as an ecosystem of social action, localization of the model aligned with Iranian contextual requirements, and criteria for identifying and evaluating social entrepreneurship.

Conclusion: The results demonstrated that implementing this model can lead to sustainable social value creation, enhancement of educational justice, and the transformation of schools from purely educational institutions into platforms for resolving social issues. Overall, the proposed model provides a localized and systematic framework for policy-making, curriculum planning, and the empowerment of educational actors to develop social entrepreneurship within the Iranian education system.

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