Improving Students' Psychological Capital through Learning Empowerment (Experiences of School Principals)

Psychological capital can be improved through educational interventions, but its improvement through learning empowerment has received less attention. The purpose of this research was to explain the lived experiences of school principals in improving the psychological capital of female high school students through learning empowerment. This study was based on a qualitative approach and a descriptive phenomenology method, with the study of 23 participants from among the principals of secondary schools for girls in the second year of secondary school in Tabriz city in the academic year of 2022-2023. Purposive sampling method was used for sampling and 23 semi-structured individual interviews were conducted until theoretical saturation was reached. the data analysis was done based on the seven-step strategy of Colaizzi. the findings show that the managers' lived experience of improving the psychological capital of female high school students through empowering learning in 3 themes and 23 sub-themes including: improving skills (self-confidence, self-esteem, self-development, self-leadership, self-regulation, self-evaluation, absorbing feedback, study skills, life skills), raising awareness and supportive learning atmosphere (counseling, psychological training, opportunities for interpersonal interactions in the classroom, positive classroom climate, independent learning, improving the quality of learning, need-based learning process, synergy in learning, meaningful learning), participation in class and school (participation in classroom management, participation in school management, team learning, team innovation, collective activities) can be categorized. It can be concluded that empowering learning through creating positive cognitive models in students provides improvement of their psychological capital.