The comparative study of concept and dimensions of empowerment of the primary school principals in Iran and some other industrialized (advanced) countries

The purpose of this study was to identify, analyze and compare the empowerment components of primary school principals in Iran with those of the five successful countries in the world. In this study, the comparative method was used, mainly with an emphasis on Bereday’s four stage approach. The research population included Iran and one country from each continent (United States, Britain, Australia, South Africa and Japan) active in the field of empowerment of primary school principals. The countries were selected intentionally as the sample, based on two important features: the quality of primary school education based on the international studies and tests, especially TIMSS, and the research background of these countries on empowerment of primary school principals. Totally, 50 components were identified, compared and analyzed between Islamic Republic of Iran and the other selected countries. The number of identified components for each country was as follows: America 26, England 24, Australia 21, South Africa 21, Japan 18 and Islamic Republic of Iran 16. There were many common components among these countries, the most of which belonged to the United States and the least to the Islamic Republic of Iran. There were few similarities between empowerment components of primary school principals in Islamic Republic of Iran and the selected countries. The lack of important components such as technical and professional dimension, modeling capacity, envisaging mission and vision, and etc. has been seen in the empowerment of primary school principals in Iran.