A Comparative Study of Professional Development Processes of School Principals in Iran and England

The purpose of research was investigating school principals’ professional development processes in Iran and England. This is a qualitatively comparative research using strategy of "different social systems, different educational outputs" for selection of selected countries. The method of data collection was documentary (primary and secondary sources) extracted from international databases and the Ministry of Education homepages of the two selected countries. Data analysis was through Bereday and Mill methods. The findings showed that, the policies and general principles of the principals' professional development programs are centralized with direct supervision of the Ministry of Education and its subordinate organizations. Other finding revealed that the implementation of professional development processes of school principals in Iran is mostly based on theoretical discussions, principals’ experience and organizational agency, while in England, individual agency is dominant and principals' professional development programs is mostly based on practice, experience and supervision of the primitive competencies of the school’s principal. Some programs of the England educational system in principals' professional development programs - such as establishment of the "National College for School Leadership (NCSL)", "National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH)" and development of qualifications- can be used to improve the Iran’s school principals professional development programs.