Identifying Dimensions and Components of Professional Development of Elementary School Principals: A Phenomenological Approach

The present study is a qualitative research with a phenomenological approach that has been conducted to identify the dimensions and components of professional development of elementary school principals. The statistical population of the study was the principals of public elementary schools in Tehran in the year of 2019. In two stages of sampling, samples were selected by quota and then purposive sampling methods. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The interview continued until the process of exploration and data collection reached a theoretical saturation point after interviewing 14 people. The data were analyzed using content analysis method and open axial and selective coding steps. Two methods of verifying the interviewees and verifying an external expert were used to control the validity. To determine the reliability, two methods of reviewing the writings and also the method of recoding were used. The agreement in the coding homogeneity was calculated and the agreement coefficient was 86%. Findings showed that professional development for elementary school principals has 4 dimensions of knowledge, skills, attitude and ability and 9 components includes general management knowledge, specialized management knowledge, interactive skills, resource management skills, professional skills, personal desires, managerial attitude, physical and mental ability, and intellectual ability ,21 sub-components and 87 indicators.