Identifying the Dimensions and Components of the School and Society Link Pattern based on the Grounded Theory

The link of school and society can play an important role in preparing students for life in society. Therefore, the aim of this study was identifying the dimensions and components of the school and society link pattern based on the grounded theory.

This study in terms of purpose was applied and in terms of implementation method was qualitative. The research population was professors and experts, policy makers of the Ministry of Education, managers of the General Departments of Education and schools managers in the 2021-2022 academic year. The sample size based on the principle of theoretical saturation was determined 18 people, who this number were selected by purposeful and snowball sampling methods. The data were collected with a demographic information form and a semi-structured interview, which the validity of the interviews was confirmed by triangulation and peer review methods and its reliability was calculated with a Cohen's Kappa coefficient 0.79. The data were analyzed by open, axial and selective coding method based on the grounded theory in MAXQDA software version 2021.

The findings showed that for the school and society link pattern were identified 42 subcategories in 15 main categories; So that in the central phenomenon there were one main category of school and society link in Iran, in the causal conditions there were two main categories of structural factors and content factors, in contextual conditions there were four main categories of dominant structural focus, dominant organizational culture, accelerated and untimely managerial changes and intellectual and attitudinal factors, in the intervening conditions there were three main categories of role of virtual space and social networks, role of councils in the education system and role of the family, in the strategies there were three main categories of policy making in the field of attracting civil participation, appropriate governance of the educational system and re-engineering and refining the structure of the educational system and in the consequences there were two main categories of individual consequences and social consequences. According to the identified dimensions and components for the school and society link pattern, a pattern based on the grounded theory was drawn.

The identified dimensions and components in this research for the school and society link pattern have many practical implications for the officials, managers and planners of the Ministry of Education. They in order to increase and improve the link school and society can provide the basis for the emergence and realization of the identified dimensions and components in this research.