Stories from children of labour in Iran: Do universities have a social responsibility to help resolve the problems?

Iman Tohidian, Ali Khorsandi Taskoh and Abbas Abbaspour
Allameh Tabataba'i University, Iran

Despite technological advancements in engineering, medicine, agriculture, food, and health; we live in a global community of incidents, challenges, and crises, contrary to the hope of living in a 21st century utopia. Child labour can be seen as a malignant symptom for which policy-makers and senior authorities must take immediate and effective actions to help, although such persons may be scattered throughout a country's cities. Numerous public and private organisations provide different kinds of support for child labour victims, often with some good successes. However, universities and higher education institutions generally are not participants in providing practical guidance and help for outside organisations, either unintentionally or for purposes determined by their own campus-bound priorities, decisions, and policies. As a novel research to investigate the lives of children of labour, we administered a multiple case study with five children to obtain their feedback concerning their lives as well as their portrayal of today's society. Then, a purposive sample of 98 researchers/scholars provided views on best practices and immediate as well as long run solutions for improving status and life expectancy for children of labour.
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Authors: Iman Tohidian is affiliated with the Department of Educational Administration and Planning, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Iran. He is interested in higher education policy, K-12 and higher education partnerships, university-industry collaboration, strategic plan development for higher education institutions, and internationalisation of HE. He has taught QUAL research methodology and ELT courses for a number of years. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4087-2749 Email: tohidian.i@gmail.com Ali Khorsandi Taskoh is Associate Professor, Department of Educational Administration and Planning, Allameh Tabataba'i University (ATU), Tehran, Iran. He obtained his PhD in educational policy studies from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1045-5562 Email: ali.khorsandi@atu.ac.ir Abbas Abbaspour is a Professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Planning, Allameh Tabataba'i University (ATU), Tehran, Iran. He obtained his PhD in management from the University of Tehran, Iran. He has published extensively in research journals and presented orally in prestigious international conferences. He has also more than 20 years of top-level management and consulting experience in public and private organisations. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7118-7912 Email: abbaspour@atu.ac.ir Please cite as: Tohidian, I., Khorsandi Taskoh, A. & Abbaspour, A. (2023). Stories from children of labour in Iran: Do universities have a social responsibility to help resolve the problems? Issues in Educational Research, 33(1), 414-427. http://www.iier.org.au/iier33/tohidian.pdf