Comparative Study of Iran and the UK national curriculum based on the principles of Mind, Brain and Education

This study compares the national curriculum of Iran and the UK to find out how the educational system indeveloping countries such as Iran can be improved. Because of implementing thinking skills and cognitive education,the educational system in the UK benefits from a high-quality standard. The science of mind, brain, educationintroduces some principles to improve teaching and learning methods and provide thoughtful and lifelong learnersfor the societies. In this study, we specified the main parts of the national curriculum in both countries and selectedsome of the principles to determine whether these two countries apply them in their national curriculum. Some ofthese principles focus on some significant issues: teaching models, the use of Meta-discipline and HolisticTechniques, authentic learning experiences, use of products, processing and progressing Evaluations, developingexplicit learning objectives, how to benefit from thinking and reflective practices, using collaborative and democraticactivities, preparing students to set personal objectives, giving themselves feedbacks, technology and flippedclassrooms, and beginning Year- Round Schooling. The results show that Iran needs more precise and detailedlearning objectives in its curriculum, use of democratic and collaborative activities with academics and students,develop thinking and reflective practices which play vital roles in upgrading the educational system. Moreover, it issuggested that the UK and Iran should consider embedded evaluations and flipped classrooms to meet the needs ofnew generation of learners.