Designing a Self-Organization-Based Moral Curriculum Model for the First Cycle of Secondary Education

Abstract

The present study aimed to design a self-organization-based moral curriculum model for first-cycle secondary school students through the perspectives of curriculum experts and educational specialists. This study employed a qualitative research approach using thematic analysis. The research population consisted of key informants, curriculum experts, university faculty members, and educational specialists in Iran. Participants were selected through purposive theoretical sampling and snowball techniques, resulting in a final sample of 15 experts. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis procedures. To ensure trustworthiness, test–retest reliability and inter-coder agreement were calculated, yielding reliability coefficients of 89% and 86%, respectively. The findings revealed that the proposed self-organization-based moral curriculum model comprises three major dimensions. The objectives dimension included four components: skills, awareness and attitudes, self-knowledge, and social adaptation. The content dimension consisted of principles of content selection, principles of content organization and presentation, and essential curricular considerations. The teaching–learning strategies dimension encompassed five components: empowerment and agency, active learning methods, guidance, feedback provision, and inspiration. Collectively, these dimensions formed an integrated conceptual framework capable of supporting the development of a comprehensive moral curriculum grounded in self-organization principles for lower secondary education. The results indicate that integrating moral education with self-organization principles can promote students’ holistic development by enhancing ethical competencies, self-awareness, responsibility, and social adaptability. The proposed model, emphasizing educational goals, flexible content structures, and active learning strategies, provides a practical framework for strengthening students’ moral and cultural identity and offers valuable guidance for curriculum development and reform in lower secondary education.