Volume 2, Issue 3 (3-2026)
SELMJ 2026, 2(3): 92-112 |
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Khalkhali A, Ahmadi S M. (2026). Genealogy of Educational Administration Theories: Drawing on Michel Foucault's Ideas. SELMJ. 2(3), 92-112.
URL: http://selmj.ir/article-1-85-en.html
URL: http://selmj.ir/article-1-85-en.html
Educational Management, To.C., Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran
Abstract: (120 Views)
This article employs a Foucauldian genealogical approach to examine the historical evolution of theorizing in educational management in Iran. Through a systematic ten-step genealogical analysis, it demonstrates that theoretical traditions in this field have not developed linearly but have emerged through discontinuities, contingencies, and power-knowledge relations. The findings identify eight major theoretical traditions: instrumental-rational, human-psychological, structural-functional, critical-social, ethical-phenomenological, postmodern-feminist, data-driven/evidence-based, and emerging technology-oriented. These traditions have been shaped by key historical junctures—including the establishment of Dar al-Fonun in the Qajar era, bureaucratic rationalization during the Pahlavi period, and post-revolutionary Islamization—while the technology-oriented discourse has remained largely marginalized. The study highlights the lack of epistemological independence in Iranian educational management, its heavy reliance on Western industrial and humanistic paradigms, and the persistent reproduction of control-oriented and ideological discourses. Ultimately, the article calls for critical reflection and the production of indigenous theories that integrate technology as a source of agency and knowledge rather than mere control, thereby breaking sedimented assumptions and opening new horizons for educational management in the digital era.
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