Pathology of School Councils and Proposing Appropriate Strategies to Promote their Roles

The purpose of the present research was to evaluate the structure and performance of school councils and propose appropriate strategies to promote the role of teachers’, school and students’ councils. The sample of the study included 211 schools which were selected based on Cochron’s formula. The sample was drawn via multi-stage sampling in the provinces of Khuzestan, Qom, North Khorasan, Yazd, Ilam, Isfahan, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Tehran. In this non-experimental descriptive study, the data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, and observations. The obtained data were analyzed via descriptive and inferential statistics (t test). Results showed that the malfunction of school councils is partly due to their executive responsibilities, a fact that requires revision. Several amendments can be made to the duties of the councils and some exclusion also seems necessary. In the three aforementioned councils, monetary and time constraints (a total of 62%) and ambiguity of executive bylaws are respectively the most important causes of malfunction of school councils. According to the research findings, the most significant strategies for promoting school councils are: 1. Revising councils’ bylaws in terms of responsibilities, monetary resources, and the time of the meetings; 2. Establishing appropriate structural relationship among councils at school, district, province and ministerial levels. In addition, it is suggested that the heads of teachers’ and students’ councils are selected by the respective councils’ members and school principals maintain oversight of councils’ operation. In the case of the executive bylaws of each council, responsibilities of the councils have been identified; however, council's extent of authority has not been clarified. Hence it is required that each council's extent of legal authority be described and determined.