Perception of lived experiences of elementary school teachers from successful school principals in crisis situations

In today's schools, strong and effective leadership is considered as an essential element in changing movement and strategic innovation. Leadership seems to be at the heart of changing values, valuing actions, perspectives, and worldviews of the realities of the world around us, taking action, and building solidarity. Contemporary school management and leadership is referred to as the "people issue", which focuses on influencing the way others think, feel and behave; School management and leadership is considered as a strategic or forward-looking process that involves developing and building strong relationships with a deep insight in an effort to achieve goals (Smith & Riley, 2012). However, in times of crisis, the school leadership must be able to provide reassurance, hope, activity for effective and efficient efforts (both during and after the crisis) as well as ensuring open and credible communication with all members. Influence others and influence members of the school community. As Whitla (2003: 21) states, in the event of a crisis, school principals will need precise, sensitive, and directional leadership (Smith & Riley, 2012).
Considering that so far no research has been conducted in the country in the field of crisis management in schools and the research gap in this field regarding crisis management in schools is quite noticeable; Also, given that the recent COVID-19 (Corona virus) crisis has affected all organizations, and schools are in turmoil in the face of this crisis; On the other hand, given that in these critical situations, successful principals in schools have been able to cope well with these conditions and sometimes turn this crisis from a threat to an opportunity, but so far the characteristics and factors that have made these principals successful have been identified and It has not been studied, so identifying and discovering the factors affecting the success of school principals in the face of crisis in schools is necessary to focus more on these factors on the effectiveness, efficiency, professional development of teachers and achievement of educational goals to take basic steps. It is also necessary to express the identified factors in a practical model that the presentation of this model requires localization in the form of research work; Therefore, the present study intends to investigate and discover the factors affecting the success of school principals in the face of crisis with a qualitative method and heuristic approach and to propose a practical and appropriate model for schools.
Methodology
The present study is an applied research that has been done with a qualitative method and using an exploratory approach. The data of the present study were collected using semi-structured interviews. The questions designed for the interviews were formulated according to the review of documents and analysis of the research literature.
In this study, the data were analyzed based on the data method and in a systematic way (Strauss and Corbin). The basis for the end of the interviews was theoretical saturation. In the present study, the coding was done line by line. The process of data analysis was open coding, axial coding and selective coding, respectively. This process was done through MaxQDA 2018 software.
Formal and content validity was used to determine the validity of the interview questions, which was used by 6 experts and experts in the field of educational management. Also, in order to increase the validity of the analysis and coding, the "angulation" technique has been used to evaluate the validity and quality of the findings. In addition, using the technique of "external recognition" (Christensen, 1989 Quoted from Mohammadpour, 2010: 168) another researcher has been asked to study the emerging theory diagram and a theory limited to a particular fact and Express their views on the fact that the results in this case were also acceptable and highly credible.
Findings
At this stage, 146 open codes were counted as the final open codes, which was done in order to form categories, and a total of 20 categories were identified and extracted. During centralized coding, the categories derived from coding under 6 categories, including the central category, causal conditions, intervening conditions, contextual conditions, contexts, and guidelines.
In the present study, the categories of "individual factors" and "structural factors" have been enumerated as causal conditions for the success of school principals in crisis situations. The category of individual factors had three dimensions of personality traits, principal skills and performances of principals and the category of structural factors with two dimensions of values ​​of the school and rules and regulations have been counted as conditions for achieving school principal success in crisis situations; Also, the categories of "facilities and equipment", "support in various dimensions" and "creative and innovative culture" are considered as contextual conditions that are counted as the conditions for achieving the success of school principals in crisis situations; The categories of "school internal cohesion", "nature of crisis" and "how to plan and organize" are considered as intervention conditions, which are counted as intervention conditions in the success of school principals. These components can promote or hinder the success of school principals in times of crisis; The strategies of "continuous monitoring and feedback", "goal setting", " to give direction and guidance", "applying new educational approaches" and "developing educational programs to deal with crisis" are strategies for the success of principals and lead to positive consequences for schools; Finally, In this study, four categories of "professional development", "creating social human capital", "team leadership" and "flexibility" have been listed as consequential components of establishing a successful crisis management model in schools.
Discussion and Conclusion
In the face of crisis, it is very important for school leaders to be decisive in their decisions, to be transparent and confident, to create hope, to make an effort, and to ensure open and credible communication with all those affected by the crisis. The characteristics and leadership skills required to achieve these outcomes in a crisis are fundamentally different from what is commonly considered by school administrators as part of the school's daily activities. Overall, successful and strong leadership about the school's position for the future; And supports and empowers staff and students in the excellence and development of various skills and knowledge and strives to minimize personal and organizational harm in the school community in the face of events, feelings and the consequences of the crisis in the current situation