teacher professionalism

Multi-grade classes are among the inevitable strategies in educational systems that are used for various reasons. From the point of view of educational planning, this type of education is defined based on reorganization and classroom management. The main goal of this research was to analyze the challenges of multi-grade classes in schools from the point of view of educational planning.

The research method based on the purpose is applied and mixed based on the type of data. The statistical population included all the teachers of multi-grade classes in the country, 15 people were selected in the qualitative section using the purposeful sampling method and 430 people were selected in the quantitative section using the random cluster sampling method. Qualitative part data was collected through semi-structured interview. After identifying the main challenges, a questionnaire consisting of 87 items was designed and validated in the focus group. In the quantitative section, the obtained pattern was examined through the implementation of confirmatory factor analysis.

The results indicate that there are eight basic challenges: motivational (β=0.99), organizational (β=0.98), physical and facilities (β=0.97), support and information resources (β=0.93), operational (β=0.93). β=0.90), methodological and pedagogical (β=0.88), educational and improvement (β=0.82) and teacher training and development (β=0.81) were identified. Based on this, the prioritization of challenges was determined (motivational challenge with first priority). In the confirmatory factor analysis, two error indicators, namely, the RMSEA index with a value of 0.02 and RMR with a value of 0.04, indicate that the model error is low. The three goodness-of-fit indices are 0.96 for the GFI index, 0.91 for the adjusted GFI index, AGFI, and 0.99 for the NFI index, showing the good fit of the model.

Conclusions and suggestions:

 Multi-grade schools are an important part of the education system, and while identifying its challenges and issues, planning for improvement should be done. The results of this research, while identifying these cases, provided suggestions for pre-service and in-service training as well as content enhancement.

Innovation and originality: 

Based on the identified challenges, strategies and policies have been recommended, which include at least 700,000 students and more than 50 teachers

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of teachers’ professionalism in school effectiveness. The research population, 1109 people, consisted of all the teachers of smart schools in district 5, Tehran, from which 240 subjects were selected using simple random sampling. This quantitative, descriptive research followed a survey-correlation design. The instruments employed included a researcher-made 25-item questionnaire about teachers' professionalism based on the Sachs model (2003) and a researcher-made 18-item questionnaire on school effectiveness based on the Chen and Lane model (2011). The reliability and validity of the instruments were measured by using Cronbach's alpha and confirmatory factor analysis, respectively. The results indicated that the reliability and validity were desirable. For data analysis, descriptive (center and scatter plot) and inferential (single sample, Pearson correlation coefficient and linear multivariate regression) statistics were employed by using SPSS software. The findings revealed that the teachers' professionalism had a positive, direct and significant relationship with the effectiveness of smart schools and its components (α>0.05). In addition, the components of teachers' professionalism had a positive, direct and significant positive effect on the effectiveness of smart schools (α>0.05).

The main purpose of this research was explanation the relationships between collegial leadership of principal, teacher professionalism, academic emphasis components and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) of principals and teachers in primary and secondary schools in Ahwaz. Explaining why these components impact on the formation, growth and development of OCB was other purpose of this research. Explanatory mixed method approach selected for implement this research. The participants consisted of principals and teachers in elementary or secondary education level. In the quantitative part using random stratified sampling, 256 participants were selected. In qualitative section, purposeful sampling was adopted and continued to theoretical saturation was secured. In the quantitative section data was collected by Dipaola, Tarter and Hoy Organizational Citizenship Behavior Questionnaire (2005) alongside of a researcher-maid whit reliability coefficients (0/84) and (0/89) respectively. Semi-structured interviews were used in quantitative part. To analyze the data regression analysis was used in the quantitative and inductive content analysis for qualitative part. The results confirm the effectiveness of collegial leadership, teacher professionalism and non-effectiveness of the academic emphasis on citizenship behavior of school directors and teachers. The reasons for the effectiveness/non-effectiveness were followed up and explained in the qualitative part.