Designing a Model of Cultural Requirements for Lower Secondary Schools in Marginalized Areas of Tehran: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

The present study aimed to design a model of the cultural requirements of lower secondary schools located in marginalized areas of Tehran. This qualitative study was conducted within an interpretivist paradigm. Participants were experts in educational management, cultural management, and sociology in Tehran, selected through purposive and snowball sampling according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria; interviewing continued until theoretical saturation was reached with 13 participants. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 30–45 minutes. The data were analyzed inductively using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis. Trustworthiness was established according to Lincoln and Guba’s criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability, supplemented by participant and expert review. Inter-rater agreement was assessed using Cohen’s kappa, which yielded a coefficient of 0.663 and was statistically significant at p<0.01, indicating an acceptable level of agreement. The thematic analysis resulted in 33 initial concepts, eight subthemes, and four overarching themes. The eight subthemes were recognizing the cultural values of marginalized communities, promoting students’ citizenship culture, learning local cultural norms, cultural identity formation, addressing migration-related moral harms, enhancing cultural literacy, reducing managers’ cultural bias, and addressing migration-related attitudinal harms. These subthemes were integrated into four overarching themes: “recognition of cultural contexts,” “cultural guidance,” “addressing migration-related cultural harms,” and “enhancement of school managers’ cultural intelligence.” The findings indicate that cultural management in schools located in marginalized areas is a multidimensional and context-dependent process rather than a set of isolated cultural or extracurricular activities. Effective cultural management requires school managers to understand students’ sociocultural contexts, deliberately guide school values and norms, address the cultural consequences of migration, and strengthen their own cultural intelligence. The proposed model can provide a context-sensitive framework for educational policymakers and school managers seeking to create inclusive, cohesive, culturally responsive, and supportive lower secondary school environments in marginalized urban communities.