Journal of School administration
Volume:10 Issue: 2, Summer 2022

Job isolation affects the quality of work-life of school principals. Given the vital role of the principals in the success of the schools and, consequently, the success of the community, this issue is of particular importance. Current qualitative research is done to develop a model to prevent job isolation of school principals in Iran based on Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory and systematic approach. The research participants were school principals of three educational levels in Iran. A total of 18 school principals were selected by theoretical purposeful sampling method. In-depth semi-structured interviews continued data collection until theoretical saturation. Content analysis based on the continuous comparison method of Strauss and Corbin was used to analyze the interview texts. The results of data analysis during three stages of open, axial, and selective coding were 13 core categories, 34 subcategories, and 133 concepts analyzed within the framework of the paradigm model and in the form of causal conditions (Occupational causes and Managerial causes), contextual conditions (Extra-school Causes, Inter-school Causes, and Human causes), intervening conditions (Demographic causes and the atmosphere of society), strategies (Existence of spiritual assets in the organization, Creating a supportive umbrella, Managerial style, and Modifying the strategic structure of education), and consequences (Micro consequences and Macro consequences). The Lincoln and Guba (1985) approach was used to validate the data, including creditability, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. According to this study’s findings, the Education System should initiates programs for principals to help them prevent their job isolation.

The present study was conducted with the aim of designing a model of professional competencies of vocational school principals with an open innovation approach and its validation. Qualitative research is a classic foundation data type. Participants include 20 experts and the director of the conservatory, purposefully sampled and interviewed in a semi-structured manner. The data are encoded using MAXQDAv2020 software, and the researcher has used the Strauss and Corbin acceptance indicators, the technique of visit by members and the self-review approach for validation of the research model. The findings show that the model of professional competencies of the directors of technical and vocational schools with open innovation approach includes 9 main competencies and 20 sub-competencies as follow: social competencies (cultural competence, social responsibility); Cognitive competencies (self-confidence and self-assurance, perfectionism and professional development); Specialized competencies (technical, scientific and functional competencies); Knowledge competencies (general level knowledge, basic level knowledge and professional level knowledge competencies); Attitudinal competencies (systemic thinking and problem solving strategy competencies); Personality competencies (self-awareness and independence, positivity and realism); Communication and networking (competence to establish external and internal communications); Developmental competencies (advocacy for IT, transformation and change management); Strategic and leadership competencies (goal-oriented and planning competencies). The listed methods for validating the model show that it has the necessary validity. The findings of this study provide implications for training and improving the directors of vocational schools in accordance with the identified professional competencies.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of toxic leadership of principals on creating organizational trauma mediated by emotional exhaustion, organizational cynicism and hypocritical behavior in schools. The research was a descriptive correlational study. The study population was 16750 people in all secondary school teachers in Khuzestan province in 1400-1399, from which a sample of 407 people was selected based on Cochran's formula by stratified random sampling. For data collection, Schmidt (2008) Toxic Leadership Questionnaire, Vivian & Horman (2015) Organizational Trauma Questionnaire, Hills Emotional exhaustion Questionnaire (2019), Nafee Organizational cynicism Questionnaire (2013) and Hadavi Nejad (2011) were used. Cronbach's alpha values were 0.96, 0.93, 0.94, 0.91 and 0.97 respectively. Structural equation modeling through LISREL10.30 software was used to analyze the data. Results Toxic leadership of principals have a positive and significant effect on organizational trauma in schools (0.32), on emotional exhaustion (0.31), on organizational cynicism (0.28) and on hypocritical behavior (0.34) (P value<0.05). Emotional exhaustion (0.48), organizational cynicism (0.42) and hypocritical behavior (0.45) had a positive and significant effect on organizational trauma (P value <0.05). Toxic leadership of principals had an indirect, positive and significant effect on organizational trauma in schools mediating emotional exhaustion (0.148), organizational cynicism (0.117) and hypocritical behavior (0.153).

This research is with a mixed approach. The study population quantitatively consisted of all Urmia’s high school principals and assistant principals (n=452). Cochran’s formula was used to determine this quantity. 204 subjects were chosen as the study sample through stratified random sampling. Qualitatively, the study population who consisted of education pundits was chosen by a purposive sampling—snowball. That is to say, 13 subjects were chosen by the theoretical saturation technique. To collect the quantitative data, a researcher-made questionnaire ensuring a face and content validity of 0.88 was developed by the experts. The qualitative data were collected according to semi-structured interviews. The data analysis was performed by two software programs—SPSS and MAXQDA. The results of the quantitative findings suggested that the challenges and obstacles to the leadership of professional learning communities are not in satisfactory condition in schools. Furthermore, the results of Friedman’s rank test indicated that the highest rank mean relates to the organizational challenges and obstacles, while the lowest rank mean was depicted by the individual challenges and barriers. According to the results of the qualitative findings, four strategies were suggested to address the challenges and obstacles to the leadership of professional learning communities as follows; organizational strategies, educational and selection strategies, cultural strategies, and leadership strategies.

Education is the most important institution that comes from the context of society and at the same time is its builder and developer, and its impact on the development of society is vital and tangible. And in fact, it is the most important course of study. The aim of this study was to identify the components of genuine leadership competence in primary schools. In the present age, we are witnessing extensive and continuous changes that make the responsibilities and duties of social institutions and organizations heavier day by day.One of the institutions that is directly related to these developments and must necessarily be coordinated with these developments is education. The institution of education is the most important institution that emerges from the context of society and at the same time is its builder and developer, and its impact on the development of society is vital and tangible.Sampling was done by snowball method until the theoretical saturation was achieved. Analysis of data from semi-structured interviews with 15 experts, university professors and administrators in the field of education, 184 concepts (open source), 15 subcategories and 5 categories were extracted. Finally, the results of this study were examined with the results of previous studies and It was also introduced to improve the use of genuine leadership in primary schools.

The role of culture in planning and implementing educational reforms and in impacting the quality of the education system has rarely been discussed. This study aims to identify the features of culture in governmental primary schools for girls in Iran aged 7‒12 years. Using an ethnographic approach, qualitative data were collected and analysed. The data were collected based on a triangulation strategy, through observation, in-depth interviews with teachers, and content analysis of the Document for Fundamental Transformation of the Education System. Thematic analysis was used to discover, analyse, and interpret the pattern of data meanings. The findings reveal that specific components represent the culture of these schools: a uniform education system, bureaucratic structure of schools, square-shape architecture of schools, national curriculum, arbitrary relationships between members of the school community, and the professional development of teachers based on the top-down command. The shared values of school members and behaviour norms are concerned with the exact execution of policies and plans issued in the form of circulars from the Ministry of Education, which shape the daily activities of school members; this has led to the emergence of a culture of obedience, wherein the members comply with the expectations, prescribed policies, and plans set by the Ministry of Education. Although studies acknowledge the importance of identifying cultural context, school culture has rarely been investigated in governmental primary schools for girls in Iran. This study highlights the role of education policymakers in maintaining and solidifying the existing culture in these schools.

The present study analyses the link between self-development and job performance of secondary school principals in Isfahan. The study is applied in terms of purpose and done by a qualitative-quantitative combined method. In the qualitative section, we use the thematic analysis strategy and in the quantitative section, we test the proposed research model through structural equation modelling. The statistical population included all secondary school principals in Isfahan, Iran (n = 323), of whom 175 were selected via stratified sampling method. The data were collected via interviews and a validated researcher-made self-development questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.85. Moreover, Paterson’s (1989) standard job performance questionnaire was applied. The qualitative findings show 3 main categories with 16 sub-categories for the self-development variable and the quantitative findings indicate that school principals’ self-development correlates with their job performance (correlation coefficient = 0.68). The structural equations modeling of principals’ self-development and job performance with approved fit indices revealed that self-development affects job performance (impact coefficient = 0.749). The results of stepwise regression indicated that individual and organizational components can predict 40% of principal’s job performance. The present study shows that self-improvement through individual and organizational components affect the job performance of school principals. So school principals will definitely have better job performance if they can evaluate themselves, control their behaviors, gain self-awareness, and stay motivated by setting goals and planning.

This study was aimed to identify and prioritize the dimensions and components of transformational leadership based on Fundamental Change Document. This research approach was mixed method. The populations in qualitative section involved faculty members, expert principals and staffs of the education organization and school principals. In quantitative part, involved all school principals and teachers of West Azerbaijan province of Iran in the academic year 2019-2020, which were about 26 thousand principals and teachers. Based on cluster sampling method, 378 principals and teachers were selected as a sample of study. The instruments in the qualitative part were semi-structured interviews; retesting and reliability between two coders were used to check the validity and reliability of the interviews and coding. The instruments in the quantitative part was a researcher-made questionnaire that its validity was confirmed by content. The reliability of the instrument was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha method. The grounded theory approach was used to analyze the data. One-sample t-test was used to analyze quantitative data. Findings revealed that; Dimensions of transformational educational leadership were classified into eight categories: Knowledge, attitude, personage, technical skills, ethical-value system, human relations skills, financial resource management, and social management. Also based on the opinion of principals and teachers, among the identified characteristics of transformational educational leaders, charismatic personality had the first priority, transformational attitude had the second priority and having managerial knowledge had the third priority.

This study was conducted based on dual purposes; the first purpose was validation of the leadership creativity assessment scale from the perspective of teachers; the second purpose was to establish a qualification profile of the principals` leadership creativity using a standard tool. The current research applied a positivist epistemological orientation with a quantitative approach and evaluation method. The study population involved 1256 Sanandaj high school teachers of which 296 teachers (both males and female) were selected by stratified random sampling. In evaluating the validity of managerial creativity questionnaire factor analysis was used and in assessing its reliability of it, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was applied to assess principles` of managerial creativity by teachers and the influence of demographic variables on teachers` assessment. Based on the findings of the study teachers evaluated their principals` level of Leadership creativity at a high level in their workplace. Moreover, it was revealed that teachers` demographic variables had no significant correlation to the scores of the Leadership creativity assessment.

This study sought to explore the core values articulated by principals with a focus on school leadership models. Considering the importance of values in educational leadership, very little research underpins the assumption of values in coupling with school leadership models. Therefore, this study employed a sequential explanatory, mixed-method research design in the Razaviyeh region located in the city of Mashhad, Iran to provide information on that topic. Data were drawn from a combination of methods, both quantitative (questionnaires administered to 350 teachers in 63 schools) and qualitative (a semi-structured interview with twenty school principals). The quantitative results first provided evidence consistent with the previous research from centralized education systems, suggesting the managerial leadership model is the dominant model in schools. The qualitative results indicated the core values articulated by principals and were categorized into terminal and instrumental values in each school leadership model.