The phenomenological study of "academic success" from the perspective of actors: Students, parents, and teachers

The present study was performed by a qualitative-phenomenological method seeking to understand and comprehend this concept. Data collection and sampling methods were respectively semi-structured and targeted interviews. The sampling process was continued according to the prevailing "theoretical saturation" rule in qualitative methods with the sample size up to 23 interviews with three groups of students, parents, and teachers. The Colaizzi multi-stage model was used to analyze the data. All relevant data were organized in the form of sub-, primary/macro, and central categories. Accordingly, 61 sub-concepts, 5 main categories (group of students), 3 categories (parents), and 4 categories (teachers) were obtained. Examining the lived experiences of these actors was accompanied by contradictions in views and some similarities. The similarities included success in exam (competitive examination), score (grading), and occupation and emphasis on "multiple successes", "family status", "emphasis on exam results", and the "empirical discipline model" also indicated some differences in viewpoints. The students' lived experience in understanding academic achievement oversaw more diverse and multiplied achievements, while they were limited to more centralized successes such as the proudness of the family in parents’perspective. From the teachers’ viewpoints, the academic achievement was reduced to the precise result of the competitive examination of the Experimental Science Discipline. According to the findings, one can say that the reductionism view rate of academic success was the highest in teachers’ view and the lowest in students’ perspective. Moreover, the narratives of the teachers group showed more eccentricity with the prevailing trend of competitive examination system.