1. Introduction

A teacher is a specialized and sensitive profession and his/her selection must be done carefully. Attracting and hiring effective and efficient teachers is of paramount importance in achieving the goals of the education system (Haghighi and Nasiri, 2024). The method of hiring teachers in different countries differs for several reasons such as the number of candidates waiting for employment, the recruitment process, the criteria for selecting teachers, the status of the teaching profession in society, etc. In the meantime, recruitment based on a competitive approach is used by many countries. In this approach, various assessment methods such as tests, interviews and observations are used (Hobson et al., 2010). This approach has been adopted by some European countries such as Germany, France and Spain (Eurydice, 2013).

            Most of the tests used for teacher selection include multiple-choice tests that are used to measure and evaluate the cognitive skills of candidates. Although these tests are widely used, they are unable to assess some important skills such as reflective thinking, leadership, sensitivity and communication. For this reason, some countries that use this competitive system administer the test in several stages (Adiguzel, 2013). For example, the Spanish education system prefers to use a competitive approach and therefore administers a three-stage test. In the first stage, the knowledge and skills of teacher candidates are assessed through written tests and interviews, and in the second and third stages, respectively, in terms of their level of education, teaching experience and communication and teaching skills (Cros et al., 2004).

           The recruitment and retention of qualified teachers is a persistent problem that has plagued many countries for decades. The recruitment process for initial teacher education is often linked to labor market conditions and the relative attractiveness of other professions. The shortage of teachers is more acute in some subjects, especially basic sciences. For example, in the UK, the demand for teachers has consistently outpaced the supply (Sibieta, 2020) and the teacher shortage in schools is increasing every year (McLean et al., 2023). Many European countries have reported widespread teacher shortages (Eurydice, 2018). In the UK and the US, teacher shortages are expected to become more pronounced as student population increase. Teacher supply remains a serious challenge in Australia and New Zealand. The extent of the shortage can vary depending on geographical region, subject area, student age, and school type (See et al., 2020). In many developed and developing countries, the inability to recruit and employ new teachers is a threat to the quality of education systems (Klassen et al., 2021).

          The shortage of human resources has always been one of the main issues in the Iranian education system. This challenge has reached a critical level in recent years, especially with the increase in the retirement population in the 1990s. Nouri (2021), former Minister of Education, believes that the main reason for the shortage of personnel is the imbalance in the recruitment of teachers with the increasing population of students and retirees in the ministry. According to him, in 1400, out of 71,000 teachers who retired, only 34,813 were hired through exams. The teacher shortage has led the Ministry of Education to use unconventional paths in recent years, such as soldier teachers (a soldier teacher is a person who is subject to military service and, after completing a mandatory military training course due to a shortage of teachers in deprived areas of Iran, works as a teacher in schools instead of serving in the army) and teaching salaries (teachers who teach in public and private schools based on temporary contracts. These contracts are generally set for short-term periods and teachers receive salaries based on the number of teaching hours), to temporarily meet the need for teachers in some regions of the country, while choosing these non-scientific-non-professional paths has created challenges in the quality of teaching and observance of educational justice (Abdollahi, 2022).

            Given that the Iranian education system has also been forced to adopt various laws in recent years for teacher recruitment, the aim of this comparative study is to learn from the experiences of two Asian countries, Japan and Turkey, in the field of teacher recruitment and recruitment methods. Before entering the next section of the article (Research Methodology), it is necessary to briefly mention the findings of previous researchers at both the international and national (Iran) levels.

          In their article “Why Don’t We Have Enough Teachers? A Re-examination of the Evidence”, See and Gorard (2020) state that there are widespread concerns about the shortage of secondary school teachers in the UK. The secondary school student population is growing. Teacher vacancies have increased and more teachers are said to be leaving the profession prematurely. Barış and Hasan (2019) compared teacher education policies in Turkey, China and Japan and found that in Turkey, these are state-led policies influenced by the constant changes of the ruling governments that have a negative impact on educational performance, while in China, teacher education policies are determined by the Ministry of Education and can vary from province to province. Sims (2018) showed that developed countries often experience teacher shortages, leading to the recruitment and turnover of ineffective teachers and reduced student achievement. In a study, Bowles et al. (2014) sought to present a model for selecting student teachers in Australia and addressed the issue that until now, most of the methods of selecting teacher candidates have been traditional and have not been based on scientific tests and interviews and have not been efficient. According to Aydin and Baskan (2005), current teacher education policies in their current formats cannot meet the needs of Turkey. By analyzing the challenges of teacher education in Turkey from a technical, academic and scientific perspective, these researchers support the reconstruction of the current teacher education model.

           Iranian researchers have also focused their attention on the role of the teacher education system and its ups and downs over the past two decades. For example, Solgi et al. (2023) showed that the greatest similarity between the Japanese and Iranian teacher education systems is related to admission to the exam and determining qualifications for selecting teachers, and the main difference between the two countries is related to the quality of holding internship courses for practical teaching practice and the professional qualification test after the end of the teacher education course. Soleimany et al. (2021) examined the criteria for selecting student teachers in teacher training centers in South Korea, Japan, Canada, Finland, and Iran and found that multiple standardized tests are used in all these countries, while interviews are the most important and widely used tool in the process of selecting qualified individuals for the teaching profession. Nabavi (2020) showed that one of the main problems in recruiting teacher candidates in Iran is selecting candidates who do not have the necessary professional capabilities and appropriate physical and personality characteristics. Vahedi et al. (2018) report that despite the theoretical accuracy that is taken in the selection of student teachers, psychological issues and their level of interest in the teaching profession are not well evaluated. Farahani et al. (2012) showed that in the process of recruiting and selecting teachers, attention should be paid to the interest and motivation of the candidates, their physical, psychological, and academic abilities and characteristics, and the use of local forces.

        Given this brief introduction, the overall objective of the present study is to conduct a comparative study of teacher recruitment methods in Iran, Japan, and Turkey. The sub-objectives of the study are:

• What are the similarities in the recruitment methods of teacher candidates between Iran, Japan, and Turkey?
• What are the differences in the recruitment methods of teacher candidates between Iran, Japan, and Turkey?

2. Research Method

The present research method is qualitative comparative and the strategy of selecting countries is the strategy of "different educational systems, different educational output" and the level of observation and analysis (macro = country) (Madandar Arani and Kakia, 2019). The data collection method is documents through primary sources (selected documents related to teacher education in selected countries) and secondary sources (books and articles) that have been selected through keyword searches in international and Iranian information databases (n=50). The four-stage Brady method was used to analyze the data and present the results.

3. Findings

1. A) Description

According to the stages of the Brodie model, the first stage, which is the description of the research findings, is as follows.

1. Iran

A review of the history of education shows that teacher training in Iran has a long history. Teacher training began in 1918 in line with the change of the education system to a new style, and its history officially reaches more than a hundred years. The first teacher training center in Iran was established in 1918 (Safi, 2019). From early 1921 to 1991, teacher training was carried out in centers called elementary and high schools, one-year teacher training courses, teacher recruitment in the form of the Knowledge Corps, and teacher training centers. The two decades of 1990 and 2000 can be considered the intervening period of the teacher training system in Iran because teacher recruitment through teacher training centers was limited and sharply reduced (Mohammadi, 2021).

            In recent years, in line with the development of programs in the Ministry of Education, it has been decided that teacher training will be carried out only by two special universities, namely Farhangian University (mainly for training teachers in primary and secondary general education) and Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University (mainly for training teachers in technical fields). Farhangian University is a “mission-oriented and strategic” university for providing, training, and empowering teachers and human resources for the Ministry of Education in Iran, which was established in January 2012, with the approval of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution and by merging all teacher training centers throughout Iran (Goya and Gholam Azad, 2019). After the establishment of Farhangian University, teachers are mainly recruited and hired based on two methods: participating in the national exam (Konkur) and the employment exam. The first group, teachers recruited through the national exam, are high school graduates who, after receiving a diploma, mainly from the age of 18 and after passing the exam, receive a formal and informal curriculum at Farhangian University for 4 years. Candidates who pass the national exam and enter the teacher recruitment process of Farhangian University in multiples of their capacity will study their undergraduate degree at the campuses of this university (separate campuses for girls and boys) after going through the medical examinations, interviews, and selection processes. In the last two years of the course, these individuals must complete practical units (internships) in addition to theoretical courses. After graduation, they are divided into different educational areas and begin teaching in schools (Soleimany et al., 2021). The second group, i.e., individuals who are recruited through the employment exam, are those who have previously attended a scientific field at the bachelor's level or higher for 4 years (for bachelor's degree holders) or 6 years and more (for master's degree or doctorate holders) at various universities and after graduation, they participate in the education employment exam due to their interest in the teaching profession or because they cannot find another job. The admission of these individuals is based on the statute of Farhangian University, which was approved by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution in 2011. Article 28 of this statute states: “Part of the special needs of the Ministry of Education in fields that cannot be developed through Farhangian University and Rajaee University, in accordance with the rules and regulations of education, shall be met by graduates of other universities, higher education and research institutions in the country, and seminaries, subject to completing a one-year skills training course at the university without hindrance” (Farhangian University, 2012). These individuals usually have expertise in their field, but are not familiar with the teaching profession and its necessary qualifications. These individuals must participate in an exam – held at the national level – and compete with each other to be hired by the Ministry of Education.

             This exam is held by the National Organization for Assessment and Evaluation of the Education System of the country, and its resources include three categories of general resources (social science, political science, Islamic education, history, culture and civilization), specialized (for elementary school candidates, teacher's guidebooks in all 6th grade subjects, and for candidates in clerical and art education, subject-specific teacher's guidebooks), and specific (AP documents and rules, teaching methods and techniques, educational psychology, educational assessment and measurement), which are announced every year in the registration booklet for the education and training employment exam. Those who pass the exam, if they pass the interview stage - which includes questions related to their mastery of religious activities and scientific capabilities - enter the one-year pre-service training course at Farhangian University. This one-year course consists of two modules, and its courses include research in practice, educational design, teaching techniques, internships, teaching methods, and various courses. After the end of the course, three criteria: internship score with a minimum of 275 points, cultural courses with 275 points, and the best exam (a test whose questions are designed from all courses taken during the two phases) with 450 points determine the candidate's acceptance for employment in the Ministry of Education. If they earn at least 650 points, candidates can go through their employment processes and work as teachers (Farhangian University, 2023). Some of the admission requirements for Shahid Rajaee University and Farhangian University are:

• Having perfect physical and mental health
• No criminal convictions, no drug addiction
• Commitment to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic and citizenship of the Islamic Republic of Iran
• Student admission is provincial, meaning that priority for admission is given to those who have lived and studied for at least the last three years of high school in the province in question.
• The location of service will be determined by the General Directorate of Education of the relevant province.
• The accepted applicant is required to submit a notarial service commitment to serve in the said location to the Education and Training Department for a period of twice the length of study (at least 8 full years).
• The prerequisite for admission to Farhangian and Shahid Rajaee Universities is to obtain a minimum final total score of 6500 in the national entrance exam.
• Being at least 22 years old is mandatory and there is no minimum stipulated in the law.
• Having a minimum overall GPA of 14 in the second secondary school (the average of the first, second and third grades) will be the criterion for admission of students (National Organization of Educational Testing website, 2024).

Some of the conditions for accepting Article 28 applicants through employment tests are:

• Having Iranian nationality
• Belief in the religion of Islam or one of the religions recognized in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran
• Commitment to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran
• Performing military service or legal exemption for men
• Having physical and mental health
• Not being addicted to tobacco and drugs
• Not having a criminal record
• Having a minimum of 20 years of age and a maximum of 40 years (National Organization of Educational Testing website, 2024)

Table 1: Distribution table of scores for the written test and supplementary assessment

Source: National Organization of Educational Testing website, 2024

*The specific field refers to the courses related to the field of study of the candidates, for example, biology courses are intended for biology teachers.

* Specialized courses refer to courses related to the field of teaching, such as teaching methods, teaching psychology, etc.

* In the supplementary assessment, obtaining a score of 95 from general competencies, 70 from specific competencies, and 40 from specialized competencies is required as the quorum (National Organization of Educational Testing website, 2024).

2. Japan

Organized and systematic teacher training began in 1872 with the establishment of the Tokyo Teacher Training College in Japan. From that date onwards, the training of elementary school teachers was exclusively entrusted to colleges whose branches were established in various states of Japan, and colleges of higher education also trained teachers for high schools. After World War II, the teacher training system in Japan changed, and in 1981, teacher training universities were established exclusively (Safi, 2012).

           The teacher recruitment test in Japan is an exam in accordance with the standards of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, which is held by the National University Entrance Examination Center. This test is a combination of different selection methods in order to evaluate different forms of abilities, talents and qualifications of candidates. Some of the recruitment and hiring methods include written tests, specific tests (physical exercises, music, arts and crafts, foreign language ability), interviews (individual and group), essay or essay writing tests, short tutorials on specific topics and classroom activities, lesson plan writing, aptitude tests, and role-playing in various school and classroom situations (MEXT, 2022).

              Currently, there is a high expectation for teacher training universities to train as many high-quality teachers as possible. Consistency in selection and interest in the teaching profession are important concepts that can help teacher training universities overcome the challenges of training a sufficient number of high-quality teachers. In particular, students with higher consistency and interest are more likely to take the teacher recruitment test, and students with higher perseverance in trying are more likely to pass the interview and the skill and aptitude test (Sakurai & Watanabe, 2021).

              In Japan, the number of candidates for the teaching profession is much higher than the capacity for admission, and there is a tough competition to enter this job. Candidates must take an exam designed and held by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. In addition to written exams (including educational laws, general school culture, educational psychology, subject knowledge, teaching techniques, etc.), specialized assessments are also held, including personality assessments, teaching skills, management skills, etc. It is after success in these courses that candidates have the opportunity to enter the teacher training course (Bakhtiari et al., 2018). The first requirement for entering the teaching profession in this country is having a teacher certificate, which is issued in three different types: 1. Ordinary teaching certificate, 2. Special teaching certificate, and 3. Temporary teaching certificate. The regular teaching certificate is the same as the teaching license, which is valid for 10 years and can be extended, which is divided into three models: advanced certificate, type I certificate, and type II certificate. To receive the advanced certificate, it is mandatory to have a master's degree, and to receive type I and type II certificates, it is necessary to have a bachelor's degree and earn points commensurate with the field of specialization and teaching experience. The special certificate is specific to the employment of teachers in management areas, and the temporary certificate is used when the school principal intends to employ a teacher who does not have a teaching certificate and its validity period is 1 to 3 years (Carpeno and Mekochi, 2015).

            After completing the training courses and obtaining the certificate, candidates can apply to teach. The teacher training system in this country is a free and selective system, meaning that a person is not forced to enter the job after graduating from school and there is no obligation to study in teacher training courses (Musset, 2010). Among the most important requirements for hiring a teacher in Japan are:

• Completion of secondary education and possession of a full diploma
• Success in entering one of the universities affiliated with the Ministry of Education or teacher training centers
• Success in the professional qualification test
• Interview and practical exams and having important capabilities in the teaching profession, including a sense of teaching and teaching, management skills
• Possession of moral and social competencies such as interest and responsibility
• Physical health
• Passing the nursing and student care skills specific to elementary school teachers

Students must take the national university entrance exam to enter teacher training institutions. This exam is held once a year in different regions (Orakçı, 2015).

3. Turkey

The history of teacher education in Turkey in the modern sense dates back to the Darul Mu'allem (Teacher Education School) which was established on 16 March 1848. The founders of the Republic not only took over the teacher education institutions from the Ottoman Empire and reformed them according to the fundamental values ​​of the Republic, but also tried to establish new institutions for teacher education. Teacher education was transferred to universities in 1982 (Akyüz, 2004). The Turkish Council of Higher Education started to re-establish the faculties of education in the academic year 1998-1999. In the early years of the Republic, two types of teacher education were established to meet the needs of different regions of Turkey: a) Teacher Education Schools for urban teachers, b) Teacher Education Schools for rural teachers (Bilir, 2011).

            In Turkey, all civil servants are selected through an official examination. Candidates for the teaching profession, which is considered a civil service, are also required to take such an examination. This test includes questions on general culture, general abilities and an interview to assess professional teaching qualifications. The Ministry of Education determines the minimum level of expectations according to its needs and those who meet these conditions are selected (OSYM, 2011). In Turkey, candidates for the teaching profession to enter teacher training centers - like candidates for other higher education universities - take the National Assessment Center exam and are accepted at this stage based on the total points earned and academic records in high school and then selected by considering criteria such as interview scores, personality assessment, decision of the faculty council, physical abilities and physical health (Toy, 2015). Student teachers who are candidates for teaching in secondary schools are recruited by the Ministry of Education through two integrated and consecutive models. In the integrated model, after obtaining a master's degree, these individuals can take the professional teaching entrance exam and, if accepted, teach in secondary schools. In the sequential model, only graduates of the faculties of arts and sciences who have completed a three-semester postgraduate course and received a master's degree are allowed to take the professional teaching exam (Yuksel, 2012).

              Until 2000, the number of trained teachers was insufficient to meet the needs of the government, as educational and recruitment policies were not based on educational planning. Since 2000, teacher recruitment has been based on the results of the PPSE. Teacher candidates in Turkey are tested in terms of knowledge in educational sciences as well as general skills within the scope of the PPSE. Candidates must achieve high scores on the PPSE exam, which has increased the anxiety of future teachers and made the PPSE a very important exam (Adıguzel, 2013). After graduating from faculties of education, individuals must pass a two-stage process of written exams (PPSE) and (TPFK) and an oral exam (interview) to be appointed as teachers. These tests are designed and administered by the Public Service Personnel Selection and Assessment Center (SSPC) or OSYM in Turkish. The PPSE test is administered in the morning and afternoon on the same day. In the morning session, the General Ability and General Culture Knowledge Test - which consists of 120 questions and takes 130 minutes - is administered, and in the evening session, candidates must answer the 80-question Educational Science Test in 100 minutes. The Teaching Profession Background Knowledge Test (TPFK) is a 50-question test that must be answered in 75 minutes. All written exam questions are multiple choice (OSYM, 2017). The percentage of TPFK exam questions is as follows:

• Subject Knowledge Test (80%)
• Basic Mathematics (12%), General Biology (6%), General Physics (6%), General Chemistry (6%), Turkish Language (12%), Turkish Literature in the Republic Period (6%), Children's Literature (6%), History of Civilization (6%), Turkish History and Culture (6%), General Geography (6%), Turkish Geography and Geopolitics (8%).
• Educational Content Knowledge Test (20%) (Baştürk, 2017).

Among the most important conditions for hiring a teacher in Turkey:

• Success in the entrance exams of teacher training colleges or government employment exams
• Obtaining the necessary grades and points from high school
• Decision of the Teachers' Council
• Personality of the teacher candidates
• Ability and health status
• Interview scores and focused tests (Guven, 2008).

1. B) Interpretation
2. Iran

Since 1918, when the law on the establishment of the Central Teachers' College was approved by the National Assembly, the country's first higher education institution was established in Tehran during the ministry of Mirza Ahmad Khan Badr, and from this date the creation of teacher training centers for men and women became legal (Mohammadi, 2016). Over the course of a hundred years since the establishment of teacher training, its structure and organization have undergone various ups and downs based on policies and needs. After the victory of the revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1978, the government encouraged population growth policies. These policies caused the population growth rate, which was less than 2 percent until 1979, to suddenly reach more than 3.5 percent. The natural consequence of this population increase was an increase in the student population, a severe shortage of teachers, and the lack of ability of teacher training centers to quickly train students/teachers. In this situation, the Ministry of Education was forced to adopt several policies simultaneously to reduce the teacher shortage, such as reducing school hours, splitting schools (students were divided into two separate groups, and some attended classes from 7:00 to 12:00 and the other from 12:00 to 6:00), increasing teachers' teaching hours, and increasing the admission quota for teacher training centers and reducing the duration of teacher training courses (Safi, 2019). This situation continued for two decades until, with the decrease in the population growth rate - affected by changes in demographic policies and the decrease in parents' interest in having children due to economic problems - the pressure of demand for teacher recruitment decreased (Fathi, 2019). So far, there have been two basic approaches to the structure of teacher training and supply: In the first approach, which led to the gradual closure or limitation of teacher training centers, policymakers believed that with the expansion of universities and higher education centers in the country, there was no need for separate teacher training and that university graduates could be used as teachers. Therefore, two-year and four-year teacher training centers and boarding schools were completely closed from 2002 to 2008. In contrast, proponents of the second approach believed that teaching was a professional and specialized matter and that teachers should have general, professional, and specialized qualifications (Safi, 2012). After 20 years of uncertainty over teacher training centers and universities, a plan to establish a university dedicated to teacher training was approved in 2011. According to a resolution of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, in 2012, a fundamental change was made in teacher training by consolidating teacher training centers into a modern university structure called the "University of Educators." This university is currently operated with about 100 campuses (Bakhtiari and Ahmadi, 2018). According to the reports of the Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in 1401, the shortage of manpower and emergency conditions led the Ministry of Education to resort to urgent solutions to attract volunteer teachers, such as teaching fees (free force), teacher conscription, each of which has caused some harm and reduced the quality of education (Abdollahi, 2022).

2. Japan

In 1949, the Teacher Certification Law was enacted and their training began in Japanese colleges and universities. National, public and private colleges and universities were four-year institutions and provided secondary school teachers, while national teacher training colleges provided elementary school teachers (Yamasaki, 2016). Like many other countries, MEXT plays a key role in formal education in Japan. The formal system includes preschool education, primary education, secondary education and post-secondary education. Primary and junior high schools are compulsory, and most schools up to junior high school are public. Private schools are common for upper secondary and post-secondary education, which includes vocational and higher education. In Japan, education, under the supervision of MEXT, follows a uniform structure. To teach at the elementary or secondary level, candidates must have a teaching license, and to teach in public schools, they must pass an employment examination, which is held annually by each municipality. A teacher's license is issued by a local education board after completing the required training course, which includes on-site training, at MEXT-certified higher education institutions (Şoitu et al., 2014).

3. Turkey

The first Turkish teacher training institute, known as Darul Muhammed, was established in 1848. Teacher education policy in Turkey since the early 1980s can be seen as an evolutionary move towards technocratic modernization, as successive governments have tried to make the system more efficient and cost-effective while trying to solve problems such as student dropout and low levels. Higher education reforms since 1981 in Turkey have led to the establishment of integrated higher education. Teacher education responsibilities and activities were transferred from the Ministry of Education to universities with the aim of increasing efficiency and quality, and to fill the faculty gap, many faculty members from science and literature faculties were transferred to faculties of education (Guven, 2008). The teacher education curriculum in Turkey is determined by the central government and various teacher education models such as two-year educational institutions, village teacher schools, teacher colleges, as well as rural institutions follow this curriculum (Erdem, 2015). The 19th National Education Council (2014) declared the basis for improving the quality of teachers to be passion and skill. Also, one of the recommendations of this council for improving the quality of teacher candidate selection was that future teachers should be selected from those who have successfully passed the SSPC or OSYM exams and that studying at teacher training colleges is among their top three choices.

             In Turkey, in order to enter the faculties of education and institutions responsible for teacher training in Turkey, a person must pass the National Higher Education Transfer Exam. Teacher training is carried out by the Higher Education Council and the faculties of education of universities. The Ministry of Education awards scholarships to students in teacher training centers to encourage qualified students to turn to the teaching profession and to improve the economic and social situation of teachers (Ahmadi, 2016).

1. C) Juxtaposition

At this stage, in order to create a framework for comparison, we have placed the components of recruitment in the three countries in a stratified manner.

Table 2 : Juxtaposition of teacher recruitment components in three selected countries

1. D) Comparison

In this stage, the differences and similarities are examined and compared with the aim of answering the research question. A total of 13 criteria for teacher recruitment have been examined, which are presented in the table below.

Table 3 : Similarities and differences in teacher recruitment components among three selected countries

Table 4 : Comparison of teacher recruitment components among three selected countries

4. Conclusion

The research findings showed that all three countries considered in this article are similar in terms of acceptance and absorption in terms of criteria for completing secondary education and having a diploma, success in entrance exams, conducting interviews upon entry, physical health, and moral characteristics. This finding is consistent with the results of studies by Solgi et al. (2023), Soleimani et al. (2021), and Nabavi (2020). In addition, unlike Iran, a professional qualification exam is held after the end of the teacher training course in Japan and Turkey, with the difference that in Japan, teachers are awarded a graded teaching certificate (grade 1 and 2) based on its results, but this process does not exist in Turkey. Also, proficiency tests are only held in Japan. This finding is consistent with the results of studies by Barış and Hasan (2019), Yamasaki (2016), Sakurai and Watanabe (2021), and Safi (2012).

             It was also found that teachers who graduate from teacher training in Iran and Turkey are required to teach for a certain period of time in schools determined by the Ministry of Education. This period in Turkey is 3 to 7 years depending on the type of educational region where they serve (in Turkey, educational regions are divided into 6 categories) and at least 8 years in Iran. According to the results of Vahedi et al. (2018) and Nabavi (2020), this study also revealed that in Iran, the criterion of ability and religious awareness is considered as one of the most basic criteria for admission. And the latest finding of the study showed that the height of teacher candidates in Iran should not be less than 160 cm for men and 155 cm for women. Also, the age limit for candidates for teacher training courses is a maximum of 22 years and for candidates for employment exams is a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 40 years. According to the research findings, the following suggestions are made to the planners of the teacher training field in Iran:

• Holding a comprehensive exam after graduating from Farhangian University in order to consolidate the learning and ensure the professional qualifications of new teachers
• Awarding certificates of professional qualifications of the first and second levels according to the points earned by each candidate
• Holding periodic exams every 3 or 5 years to improve the quality of the training process and prevent teachers from academic stagnation and to use the points as a basis for extending the teacher qualification certificate
• Annual evaluation during the education period in order to create academic competition between student teachers and use these points as a basis for providing the right to choose in determining the place of service and educational level
• Standardizing the methods of assessing and evaluating candidates in specialized interview sessions
• Using the results of research and experiences of successful and leading countries in recruiting and training teachers