School principals' perception of professional ethics and the extent of its observance in high schools

This research has been done with a mixed exploratory method with the aim of identifying the perception and the degree of observance of professional ethics of school principals. The required data were collected using a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The statistical population of the study included all secondary school principals in Birjand. In quantitative phase of the study, 75 people were selected as a sample by relative random sampling. 375 people were selected to be surveyed about the level of professional ethics of their managers. Then, based on the analysis of the findings of the quantitative stage of the research, the participants in the qualitative stage of the research (16 people) were selected by purposive sampling. Descriptive and inferential statistical indicators were used to analyze quantitative data and interpretive analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The results show that from the perspective of teachers, the professional ethics of principal is at a desirable level. The results of the qualitative part of the research also represented school principals' perceptions of professional ethics in five main dimensions, including profitability ethics, deontological ethics, justice-oriented ethics, individualistic ethics, and personal liberality ethics. each of which included several categories. Also, the results obtained from data analysis showed that school principals have a better understanding of task-oriented ethics than other dimensions of professional ethics and benefit-oriented ethics is at a higher level in terms of compliance than other dimensions.