Iranian Journal of Educational Sociology 2645-3460 In Press 2027 01 01 Designing a Multicultural Curriculum Model for Lower Secondary Education Based on the Philosophy of Islamic Education Designing a Multicultural Curriculum Model for Lower Secondary Education Based on the Philosophy of Islamic Education 1 20 10.61838/qz9et056 EN Journal Article 2026 04 07 <p><strong>Purpose:</strong> This study aimed to design and validate a multicultural curriculum model for lower secondary education based on the philosophy of Islamic education.</p> <p><strong>Methods and Materials:</strong> An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design was employed. In the qualitative phase, relevant scholarly literature, policy documents, and semi-structured interviews with purposively selected experts in curriculum planning, Islamic philosophy of education, multicultural education, cultural studies, teacher education, and lower secondary schooling were analyzed using thematic analysis in MAXQDA. The extracted concepts were organized into philosophical dimensions, components, and indicators and used to develop the initial curriculum model. In the quantitative phase, a researcher-developed 40-item questionnaire based on five philosophical dimensions and 10 components was administered to 100 lower secondary teachers working in culturally diverse educational settings. Content validity was assessed using CVR and CVI, construct validity through exploratory factor analysis using principal axis factoring, and reliability through Cronbach’s alpha. The proposed model was subsequently validated through three Delphi rounds with 15 experts. Quantitative analyses were conducted in SPSS.</p> <p><strong>Findings:</strong> The qualitative analysis yielded five philosophical dimensions—Human Identity, Educational Justice, Cultural Interaction, Rationality, and Social Cohesion—comprising 10 principal components. The questionnaire demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, with mean CVR=.79, CVI=.91, KMO=.837, a significant Bartlett test, χ²(780)=2111.837, p&lt;.001, and a five-factor solution. Cronbach’s alpha ranged from .820 to .900 across dimensions and was .940 for the total scale. Delphi validation showed increasing convergence, with the overall mean rising from .823 in Round 1 to .853 in Rounds 2 and 3, while the mean coefficient of variation declined from 1.79% to 1.05%. Friedman tests were significant in all three rounds, p&lt;.001.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The findings support a coherent and expert-validated multicultural curriculum model grounded in Islamic educational philosophy and structured around dignity, justice, dialogue, rationality, and social cohesion, with potential applicability to lower secondary curriculum design and implementation.</p> https://qijes.com/index.php/ijes/article/download/1566/1544