Pedagogically Centered Leadership in Primary Schools: An Application of Descriptive Phenomenology

Document Type : Qualitative Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. student of Educational Administration, Department of Educational Science, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.

2 Professor of Educational Administration, Department of Educational Science, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.

10.22034/jsa.2023.63129

Abstract

This research mainly aimed to identify the indicators of pedagogically-centered leadership in Sanandaj primary schools, which was conducted using a qualitative research approach and a descriptive phenomenology strategy. The two main questions raised in the research were as follows. According to the mentalities and experiences of the participants, what are the meanings and indicators of pedagogically-centered leadership in Iranian elementary schools? What characteristics can make pedagogically-centered leaders separate and unique leader from other educational leaders? The current research is developmental-applied in terms of purpose and qualitative in terms of approach, which was conducted using a descriptive phenomenology strategy. To collect data, 18 primary school principals were selected by purposive sampling and interviewed through three-stage phenomenological interview protocols. Their perspectives and experiences were investigated during the interviews. After conducting the interviews, the data were first manually analyzed, and then by MAXqda 2020 software, based on three-stage thematic analysis (basic, organizing, and global) of Attride-Stirling, analyzed. As the result of data analysis, 90 initial codes, 42 basic themes, 18 organizing themes, and finally, 8 global themes were specified. Also, four distinctive characteristics were identified as unique features of a pedagogically-centered leader: participation-seeker, activist of social justice and equal opportunities, valuing subcultures, and leader of leaders. Findings implicitly indicated that the implementation of this style of leadership in schools requires major changes in the mental paradigms of school community members. These changes include changing the paradigm of playing fixed roles to flexible ones, changing the paradigm of management to leadership, changing the paradigm of bureaucracy to specialization, changing the paradigm of teaching-centered to learning-centered, changing the paradigm of parental participation to parental involvement, and changing the paradigm of knowledge transfer to knowledge creation in students

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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School Administration
Volume 11, Issue 4 - Serial Number 25
December 2023
Pages 76-108

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History

  • Receive Date: 02 May 2023
  • Revise Date: 25 April 2023
  • Accept Date: 09 January 2024

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