Journal of School administration
Volume:11 Issue: 4, Autumn 2023

The research was conducted with the aim of identifying the drivers and obstacles for the professional development of elementary school principals. The current research is qualitative study. The statistical population was the principals of public elementary schools. Using the purposeful snowball sampling method, 22 school principals from the education districts of Tehran were selected as a sample, and the theoretical saturation of the data was observed in the interview of the 20th person. A semi-structured interview was used as a tool. The data was analyzed by theoretical coding (Open, axial and selective coding) according to the answers provided to the three research questions. In the review of the current situation of the professional development of principals, 5 components were obtained, regarding factors affecting the professional development of Principals, 9 components were obtained, and in the review of obstacles to the professional development of Principals, 3 components were obtained. Based on the results of the research, it was found that the principals of educational institutions are facing issues and problems, which, by solving them, helped the professional development and capabilities of the principals. Finally, professional development indicators were presented in 5 scientific, skill, organizational, personal and cultural-social sectors.

Considering the expansion and increase of School Administration articles in the world scientific community, Reviewing and analyzing the literature in this area is the goal of this study. The study used a descriptive methodology. It includes all scientific articles indexed in the Science Direct citation database from 2000 to 2023. After filtering the papers, 2670 were examined using VOSviewer software to examine and show the data. The research findings indicate that the number of articles has increased since 2004, and The year with the highest percentage of pieces was 2023. Also, between journals with 2125 “Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences” 436 articles were ranked first. Also, 5 clusters were identified, and the subjects of leadership, education, professional development, higher education, teachers, school leadership, teacher education, and school improvement had diversity and as “education policy,” “job satisfaction,” “motivation," “development," “human capital” was the previous subjects of this field. This research concluded that areas such as; “COVID-19”, “teacher self-efficacy,” “technology integration,” accountability,” “and “professional learning community” were hot and new.

The main goal of this research was to analyze the role of schools' principals in the formation of the hidden curriculum of secondary schools in Tabriz. The research was carried out through mixed method research (qualitative and quantitative) of exploratory type. The research community was formed by academic experts and professors in the field of education, curriculum development, and public education and principals of successful schools. In the qualitative phase, the opinions of various experts were collected through the grounded theory method (by using semi-structured interview) and analyzed and classified through coding steps. Based on the theoretical saturation criterion, 17 participants were selected in a purposive way in the qualitative phase and in the quantitative phase 356 experts, school principals and educational assistants of schools. Data was collected by semi-structured interview and analyzed by structural equation method with smartpls4 software. As a result, 103 indicators, 24 components and 6 dimensions were obtained, which were presented in the form of a paradigm model. In the quantitative phase, a survey research method and a researcher-made questionnaire tool were used. Also, in the quantitative section, using the structural equation method, it was determined that among the obtained components, the effort participation component with a coefficient of (0.912) is the first priority and the rules and regulations component with a coefficient of (0.619) is the last priority. The main result and suggestion of the research is that more and special attention should be given to the components that were placed in the first priorities.

The study aimed to investigate effective accountability among public school administrators and identify a model for achieving it. A qualitative phenomenological research method was used, with an applied purpose. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 experts in the field of school principal accountability. Participants were selected using purpose-based sampling and saturation law principles. Qualitative data analysis involved three stages of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, using stepwise methods and analytical techniques. Six inclusive themes emerged as constituting the effective response pattern of school administrators: financial dimension (major benefits, financial justification), moral dimension (moralism, education), cultural dimension (organizational culture, employee culture, culture society), administrative dimension (administrative structure, accountability process), strategic dimension (transformationism, responsive leadership), and educational dimension (organizational, individual). Overall, the study provides insight into how school administrators can be held accountable effectively.

This research mainly aimed to identify the indicators of pedagogically-centered leadership in Sanandaj primary schools, which was conducted using a qualitative research approach and a descriptive phenomenology strategy. The two main questions raised in the research were as follows. According to the mentalities and experiences of the participants, what are the meanings and indicators of pedagogically-centered leadership in Iranian elementary schools? What characteristics can make pedagogically-centered leaders separate and unique leader from other educational leaders? The current research is developmental-applied in terms of purpose and qualitative in terms of approach, which was conducted using a descriptive phenomenology strategy. To collect data, 18 primary school principals were selected by purposive sampling and interviewed through three-stage phenomenological interview protocols. Their perspectives and experiences were investigated during the interviews. After conducting the interviews, the data were first manually analyzed, and then by MAXqda 2020 software, based on three-stage thematic analysis (basic, organizing, and global) of Attride-Stirling, analyzed. As the result of data analysis, 90 initial codes, 42 basic themes, 18 organizing themes, and finally, 8 global themes were specified. Also, four distinctive characteristics were identified as unique features of a pedagogically-centered leader: participation-seeker, activist of social justice and equal opportunities, valuing subcultures, and leader of leaders. Findings implicitly indicated that the implementation of this style of leadership in schools requires major changes in the mental paradigms of school community members. These changes include changing the paradigm of playing fixed roles to flexible ones, changing the paradigm of management to leadership, changing the paradigm of bureaucracy to specialization, changing the paradigm of teaching-centered to learning-centered, changing the paradigm of parental participation to parental involvement, and changing the paradigm of knowledge transfer to knowledge creation in students

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of Knowledge-based Leadership on the innovative educational activities of first-secondary teachers in Durood City with the role of mediator in Making Schools Smart Plan. This study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of data collection method and structural equation modeling. The statistical population includes all the teachers of secondary schools of Dorud City and 135 of them were selected as a sample by stratified random sampling method. Data collection was done with Donit and DePablo's (2015) Knowledge-based Leadership questionnaires, Saatchi, Kamkari, and Askarian's (2010) innovative educational activities questionnaire, and Smartening Schools scale Jafari Hajti's (2015). Average Variance Extracted, Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and composite reliability (CR) were used to measure the validity and reliability of the tools, and the results of all the indices confirmed that the questionnaires have a suitable and acceptable condition. The final analysis of the data using SPSS software and Smart PLS was done. According to the standard coefficients of the path, the direct effect of knowledge-based leadership on innovative educational activities is 0.532; The amount of indirect effect is 0.270 and its overall effect is equal to 0.802. Also, the smartness of schools directly explains innovative educational activities by 0.428 (42.8%). Knowledge-based leadership is one of the effective leadership styles to strengthen innovative activities in organizations especially in schools. Smartening schools by strengthening learning-teaching processes and creating an interactive environment can facilitate innovative educational activities.

Migration has become an international challenge that has affected all social institutions, especially the educational system, in terms of changing the composition of the cultural context of students. Therefore, intercultural communication is the key to creating social harmony. The aim of research was to analyze intercultural interactions from the perspective of primary school students and their teachers in Ardakan City, using grounded theory method. The research field includes teachers and pupils of different ethnic groups in Ardakan City, and purposeful sampling methods (semi-structured interview & free group interview) for data collection and open, central, and selective coding methods for data analysis were used, respectively. The findings of the research point to three similarities between the views of teachers and students and two basic differences: Effectiveness of intercultural interactions makes students more prepared to accept and choose a transformational strategy and live in a multicultural society under the influence of age characteristics. In contrast, teachers' efforts to ignore and downplay cultural differences are based on emphasizing the national and systemic curriculum and devoting more time. The results of the research indicate that intercultural interactions in immigrant-accepting areas should be considered by policymakers and educational planners in order to reduce tensions and lead to intercultural synergy

The present research is aimed at studying the effects of parenting styles on teacher authoritarianism and the possibility of its reproduction in class management in the schools of Urumia.The research method is operational and in terms of data gathering is descriptional-correlation and the statistical universe includes all Teachers of Urmia city,4506 subjects,and 351 subjects were selected as statistical sample by using Cochran statistical formula and random-stratified sampling method.The data gathering tool is stansard questionnaire of parenting styles of Baumrind and authoritarian personality of Asorno-Altemer. SPSS was used to analyze data and also r correlation and multi-variable regression model.The result of this research indicates that the correlation between the components of permissive and authoritarian parent styles with teacher authoritarianism at a meaningful level less than 0/01 and 0/99 reliance was confirmed and the type of relationship is positive and direct and the linear relationship between authoritarian parent style components and teacher authoritarianism at a meaningful level of less than 0/01 was confirmed and the type of relationship is negative and inverse.The results of regression analyse show that the existing variables in model could explain 0/24 of the dependent variable variations of authoritarianism.