The Issue of Competitiveness in Islamic Dimension: The Paradigmatic Case of Iranian Child Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.38073/aijis.v4i2.4608Keywords:
competitiveness, Iran, Islam, Reward, MontessoriAbstract
Drawing on field‑based ethnographic research, this essay examines the public primary school system of the Islamic Republic of Iran under Āyatollāh Khāmeneī’s leadership, foregrounding the distinctive and pervasive role played by competitiveness. The analysis shows that, within the reward structures of these state‑run institutions, pedagogical practices are oriented towards forming educated citizens and morally upright Muslims, whose qualities of will and intention are cultivated primarily through extrinsic motivational devices. While examining the dynamics of competitiveness and success, the article argues that, in Iran, syncretic pedagogical approaches inspired by Montessori’s philosophy of education—which explicitly privilege intrinsic motivation—may create more favourable conditions for competitiveness to evolve beyond its traditionally antagonistic configuration. In this emerging framework, competitiveness may be reconceptualised as a propaedeutic force capable of supporting the fullest realisation of each individual’s potential. Such a reorientation would aim to prevent the dissipation of competitive energy in emulation, superiority‑seeking, or the avoidance of inferiority and exclusion, redirecting it instead towards the healthy flourishing of each child’s natural dispositions
Downloads
References
Aquil, Anzar, Triana Hermawati, Ahmad Mustafidin, Santi Ratnawati, Kunfuaidah Latifah, and Maskur. “Punishment and Reward in Islamic Education: Implementation at MA Hidayatus Subban.” Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan dan Sains Islam Interdisipliner 4, no. 1 (February 2025): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.59944/jipsi.v4i1.437
Bachtiar, Yusuf, and Hakimuddin Salim. “Instilling Student Discipline Through Islamic Religious Education Activities: Menanamkan Kedisiplinan Siswa Melalui Kegiatan Pendidikan Agama Islam.” Indonesian Journal of Innovation Studies 26, no. 3 (2025): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.21070/ijins.v26i3.1522
Badr Tale'i, Narges. “Pādāš va tanbīh dar neẓām-e tarbiyatī-ye kūdak va nawǧavān [Reward and Punishment in the Educational System of Children and Adolescents].” Roshd-e Mo'allem [Educational Sciences] 19, no. 6, Issue 156 (1379/2000): 56–59. https://www.noormags.ir/view/fa/articlepage/249766
Beshnas, Davood, and Fatemeh Ramshgar. “Naqš-e bi-badil-e tašvīq va pādāš dar taqviyat-e angīze-ye dāneš-āmuzān dar masīr-e yādgirī [The Unparalleled Role of Encouragement and Reward in Strengthening Student Motivation in the Learning Process].” Quarterly Journal of Strategic Research in Education 2, no. 47 (2025): 585–595. https://www.noormags.ir/view/fa/articlepage/2423110
Cader, Akram Abdul. “Towards an Islamic Model of Work Motivation.” Intellectual Discourse 24, no. 1 (2016): 83–109. https://doi.org/10.31436/id.v24i1.750
Colonello, Paola. “Where The Map Turns Red: The Multiple Expressions of Risk In Ethnographic Research”. In: D. L. Mulligan, P. A. Danaher (Eds), Researchers at Risk. Precarity, Jeopardy and Uncertainty in Academia. Palgrave Studies in Education Research Methods (PSERM), Springer International, 2021: 249‒261. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53857-6_16
Colonello, Paola. “L’Iran e le trappole neoliberiste in educazione. Conflitti e contagi [Iran and the Neoliberalist Traps in Education. Conflicts and Contagions].” MeTis, Suppl. (2022): 141–51. ISBN 978-88-6194-572-3.
Colonello, Paola. “Ğihād al Nafs: An Inquiry into Striving and Spirituality in Dialogue with Western Psychology.” Al Jadwa: Jurnal Studi Islam 5, no. 1 (2025a): 54–71. https://doi.org/10.38073/aljadwa.3354
Colonello, Paola. “Caring for Fiṭra: A Point of Encounter Between Islām and Montessori’s Conception of the Child’s Inner Potential.” Al Musyrif: Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam 8, no. 2 (2025b): 253–76. https://doi.org/10.38073/almusyrif.v8i2.3474
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihály. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. First published 1990.
Faizin, Ainol Yaqin, and Ratna Sari. “Application of Reward and Punishment Methods in Child Psychology Training.” EduSphere: Journal of Educational Innovation and Learning 1, no. 1 (March 2025): 1–8.
Febriani, Evi, and Akhmad Fauzi Hamzah. “Punishment and Reward in Schools: Educational Psychology Perspective.” Al Ihath: Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam 5, no. 2 (2025): 71–79. https://doi.org/10.53915/jbki.v5i1.627
Frankl, Viktor E. Man’s Search for Meaning. Revised and updated edition. New York: Washington Square Press, 1985. First published 1946.
Ghahramani, Tasnim, Maryam Momeni, and Sajedeh Amiri. “Ṭarīqa-ye tašvīq va tanbīh-e dāneš-āmūz-hā-ye madrasa [Methods of Reward and Punishment for School Students].” Paper presented at the 23rd National Conference on Management & Humanistic Science Research in Iran (19 February 2026), 2714–2720. https://www.noormags.ir/view/fa/articlepage/2415051
Gilbert, Paul. Psychotherapy and Counselling for Depression. 3rd ed. London: Sage, 2007.
Gilbert, Paul, Claire Broomhead, Chris Irons, Kirsten McEwan, Rebecca Bellew, Alison Mills, et al. “Development of a Striving to Avoid Inferiority Scale.” British Journal of Social Psychology 46 (2007): 633–48. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466606X157789
Gilbert, Paul, Kirsten McEwan, Rebecca Bellew, Alison Mills, and Corinne Gale. “The Dark Side of Competition: How Competitive Behaviour and Striving to Avoid Inferiority Are Linked to Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Self Harm.” Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice 82 (2009): 123–36. https://doi.org/10.1348/147608308X379806
Girard, René. La violenza e il sacro. Milan: Adelphi, 2005. First published 1972.
Ibn Abī Ṭālib, ʿAlī. Ghurar al Hikam wa Durar al Kalim: Exalted Aphorisms and Pearls of Speech. Edited by N. al Amudi. Translated by T. R. Jaffer. Qom: Ansariyan, 2012.
Iqbal, Muhammad. The Secrets of the Self (Asrār i Khūdī). Translated by R. A. Nicholson. London: Macmillan and Co., 1920. First published 1915.
Kamaruddin, and Andi Anto Patak. “The Role of Islamic Education Teachers in Instilling Student Discipline.” IJoASER 1, no. 2 (July 2018): 15–26. https://doi.org/10.33648/ijoaser.v1i2.9
Khamenei, ʿAlī. “The Islamic Republic Is the Continuation of the Holy Prophet’s Be’that.” Khamenei.ir, April 3, 2019. https://english.khamenei.ir/news/6591/The-Islamic-republic-is-the-continuation-of-the-holy-Prophet-s
Khoirunnisa, Nabila, and Tumin. “Islamic Education Teachers' Strategies to Form Students' Discipline Character.” Journal of Islamic Education 10, no. 1 (January–June 2025): 219–239. https://doi.org/10.52615/jie.v10i1.609
Khomeini, Ruhollah M. Jihad al Akbar, The Greatest Jihad: Combat with the Self (1964–1978). Translated by M. Legenhausen and A. Sarvdalin. Qom: Al Islam, 2002. https://www.al-Islam.org/jihad-al-akbar-the-greatest-jihad-combat-with-the-self-imam-khomeini
Mohamed, Yasien. “The Islamic Conception of Human Nature with Reference to the Development of an Islamic Psychology.” M.A. thesis, University of Cape Town, 1986. OpenUCT. https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/15877
Montessori, Maria. Il segreto dell’infanzia [The Secret of Childhood]. Milan: Garzanti, 2013. First published 1950.
Montessori, Maria. L’auto educazione nelle scuole elementari [Spontaneous Activity in Education]. Milan: Garzanti, 2014. First published 1916.
Najari Pour, Mahbubeh. “Ǧādū-ye angīze: raveš-hā-ye tašvīqī barā-ye dāneš-āmūzān-e ebtedāʾī [The Magic of Motivation: Encouragement Methods for Primary School Students].” Faslnameh-ye Motale'at-e Ravanshenasi va Olum-e Tarbiyati [Journal of Psychology and Educational Studies] 10, no. 2(1) (1403/2024): 38–46.
https://www.noormags.ir/view/fa/articlepage/2241011
Natoli, Salvatore. Il buon uso del mondo. Agire nell’età del rischio. Milan: Mondadori, 2010.
Nursyamsi. “Konsep Reward dan Punishment dalam Pendidikan Islam.” Mau’izhah 11, no. 2 (Juli–Desember 2021): 1–26.
Rahmad, Wahyu Basuki, and Asriana Kibtiyah. “Pembentukan Karakter Religius, Disiplin dan Tanggungjawab melalui Kegiatan Tahfidzul Qur’an di SD Islam Roushon Fikr Jombang.” Attaqwa: Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan Islam 18, no. 2 (September 2022): 31–52.
Razak, Mohd Abbas Abdul, Maziah Bte Mustapha, and Md Yousuf Ali. “Human Nature and Motivation: A Comparative Analysis between Western and Islamic Psychologies.” Intellectual Discourse, Special Issue, vol. 25 (2017): 503–525. https://doi.org/10.31436/id.v25iSpecial%20Is.1067
Rousseau, Jean Jacques. Emile, or On Education. New York: Basic Books, 1979. First published 1762.
Saeednia, Yadolla. “Self Directed Learning Among Children of Ages Nine to Eleven in Tehran: Generating a Persian Version of SDLR ABE.” US China Education Review A 4 (2011): 511–22.
Saiyidain, K. G. Iqbal’s Educational Philosophy. Lahore: Shaikh Muhammad Ashraf, Kashmiri Bazaar, 1945.
Salsabila, Unik Hanifah, Annisa Septarea Hutami, Safira Aura Fakhiratunnisa, Wulan Ramadhani, and Yuike Silvira. “Peran Pendidikan Islam terhadap Pembentukan Karakter Disiplin Peserta Didik.” Jurnal Intelektual: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman 10, no. 3 (December 2020): 329–343.
Samadi, Mochammad Ramdan, Mohamad Yudiyanto, and Laesti Nurishlah. “Perspektif Islam tentang Peran Reward dan Punishment dalam Motivasi Belajar Siswa.” Ta’dib: Jurnal Pendidikan Agama Islam 1, no. 1 (2023): 218–228.
Setiawan, Wahyudi. “Reward and Punishment dalam Perspektif Pendidikan Islam.” Al Murabbi 4, no. 2 (Januari 2018): 184–201.
Seyed Alipour, Seyed Khalil. “Naqš-e tašvīq va tanbīh dar modīriyat-e eslāmī [The Role of Encouragement and Punishment in Islamic Management].” Faṣlnāme-ye ‘elmī-taẖaṣṣoṣī-ye modīriyyat, sāl-e avval [Journal of Management Studies (Specialized Scientific Quarterly)], 1, (1383): 94–106.
Siregar, Hidayati and Muhammad Syaifullah. “Reward dan Punishment dalam Perspektif Pendidikan Islam.” Jurnal Ilmiah Wahana Pendidikan 9, no. 18 (September 2023): 329–339. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8313001
Soleyadi, Muhammad Rois. “Concept of Reward and Punishment and Its Implementation in Education in the Modern Era: Perspectives from the Quran and Hadith.” Al-Wijdán: Journal of Islamic Education Studies 9, no. 2 (April 2024), 251–265. https://doi.org/10.58788/alwijdn.v9i2.3783
Wahidiyah, Najib and Muhammad Munif. “The Role of Reward and Punishment Strategies in Enhancing Student Learning Motivation: A Pedagogical Perspective.” EDUCARE: Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan 3, no. 2 (2024): 73–85. https://doi.org/10.71392/ejip.v3i2.72
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Paola Colonello
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
