A Comparative Study of Iranian and Turkish Formal Education System of Handicraft: With the approach of

Handicrafts, due to cultural and economic capabilities, have recently been featured in some countries as one of the subcategories of creative cultural industries and countries such as China, South Korea and the UK have made precise plans in this regard. Turkey, which has long cooperated with Iran in the field of handicrafts, is one of the leading countries in the field of cultural industries. So, the study of its developments of the formal education system of handicrafts can be speculated in promoting Iranian handicrafts education. So the main question is: What are the current features of the structure of Turkish and Iranian handicraft formal education system in adapting to the approaches of creative cultural industries? The purpose of this study is to achieve innovative solutions in promoting the Iranian handicraft training system. This qualitative study based on library, documentary and field research, compares the goals, methods and plans of these two educational systems. Results showed that Turkish craft training goals and programs compared to Iran have more capabilities being in line with the approaches of creative cultural industries, especially from the point of view of such experts as “Susan Lackman”. Paying attention to economic goals as well as cultural goals, raising the possibility of specialized education, providing appropriate courses in different levels of education and establishing the relationship between the university and relevant institutions are among the schemes having been considered in Turkish handicrafts education system. In Iran, regarding the content, these changes have partly occurred in the latest high school programs and less in the latest master handicraft program. Therefore, it is necessary to have a comprehensive look at the entire Iranian handicraft training system.