Suspicion blocks Iran's ELT promise

Three years after it withdrew from Iran in the face of "intimidation and harassment", the British Council, Britain's government-sponsored education and cultural promotion agency, is hoping to encourage the UK's English language teaching sector to engage with a regime that maintains a tight grip on education but that is under pressure from a population with a growing appetite for English language skills.

Last month the Council hosted a one-day event at its London headquarters that brought together a group of ELT specialists from Iran with teacher trainers, publishers, testers and language schools based in the UK.

But the challenges of doing business in Iran were brought into sharp focus on the day. Delegates asked not to be identified because any link with the Council, which continues to be viewed with the utmost suspicion, could have damaging repercussions.

Described by Anne Wiseman, the Council's director of Iran projects, as "a sharing of ideas", the event did provide an insight into the complex barriers that Iran presents for ELT exporters, but also the potential of the sector.

English teaching is happening across three sectors in Iran: the state-funded education system, private schools and private language institutes, all of which fall under the jurisdiction of the ministry for education. Managing schools under such close monitoring is a "case of reading between the red lines", the delegates said.

However, the group stressed that public demand for ELT in Iran is enormous. They said that new language institutes were opening in the larger cities at a rapid pace. Language testing is also big business, with Ielts, the English assessment administered jointly by the British Council, Australia's IDP and Cambridge Esol, being highly prized for entry to PhD programmes, the best-paid jobs, or for emigration.

Course-book publishing is also a growing area but problems with copyright and a tendency for schools to photocopy and resell books persists, they said.

Progress is also being made in applied linguistics and ELT research. Last December, the first conference on ELT in the Islamic World was organised in Tehran by the Iran Language Institute, one of the larger chains of schools, and was attended by about 2,000 delegates. Keynote papers were delivered by Iran's leading applied linguist, Hossein Farhady, who is based in Armenia, and Dan Douglas, emeritus professor of English at Iowa State University, while academics based in Iran explored a wide range of ELT issues.

But according to the leader of the group attending the British Council event in London, who lectures in ELT at a Tehran university, the wealth of academic research is failing to translate into practical improvements in schools and classrooms.

"Our teachers are highly knowledgeable in terms of ELT approaches, but when it comes to putting these ideas into operation they face problems," he said. Research and development, he added, were their strengths, teaching practice their weakness.

A yet more immovable obstacle, however, is the continued resistance on the part of the Iranian regime to allow any engagement with non-Iranian ELT expertise.

"Anything related to the English language hits a brick wall," said one of the teachers from Iran. Teachers' materials are subject to screening by ministry censors and textbooks are routinely checked to ensure that they contain only sanctioned cultural references. The regime's attitude is summed up in the forewords in Farsi that are mandatory in textbooks, which drive home the message that English is a tool that Iranians must use for their own advantage and urge students to "get what we can from the English language".

Members of the delegation were doubtful that teachers in Iran could engage the regime in dialogue over coursebook content. "The idea that we would go to the government and we could persuade them to change the books is completely idealistic. I don't think that we are ready for that stage yet," said a PhD student.

"They are trying to deprive English of its culture while trying to promote Iranian and Islamic culture through English," she explained. "It's both political and cultural at the same time."

Suspicion that allowing English into the country will dilute or corrupt Islamic values remains deeply rooted.

Rosalyn Hurst a British ELT consultant with experience of teaching in Iran, says there are other reasons for mistrust of English. "A lot of the hostility is because people learn English, do very well and then leave the country. So [ELT] is sometimes seen as draining the resources, draining the pride of the middle class."

Kenan Barut, Oxford University Press's regional manager in Turkey, sees Iran as a key territory, but is aware of the challenges. "The biggest obstacle is piracy and issues regarding copyright regulations. Strict bank regulations make it more difficult for local partners in Iran to make business with international companies," he said.

"Still, we believe that we are now overcoming these issues thanks to the support of our partner in Iran."

But Rod Bolitho, academic director at Nile teacher development institute in Norwich, is deterred by current obstacles. "At present conditions are too difficult and we need to wait until the right signals come from the Iranian side," he said.

As for the Council's own return to Iran, Wiseman is also cautious: "It could be in a year, it could be in 10."

So what does the next decade hold for ELT in Iran?

The delegation's leader is optimistic: "I think there will be more public pressure on school authorities and on the ministry of education to reform and to try to fulfil expectations. I also see a very fast growing private English teaching sector."

However his younger colleague, the PhD student, is more cautious: "I hope so, that's why I live and teach there.

"Things will happen, but the move will be really slow. A lot of things need to change, especially attitudes and that will not be a sudden thing."

Jack Kirkby is a pseudonym for a journalist working in Iran

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/10/tefl-iran