Investigating the nature of lived experience of managers in Iranian education

Subject Areas :

Zahra Etehad ¹ , Javad Soleymanpoor ² , Ali Khalkhali ³

1 - PhD Student in Educational Management, Department of Educational Management, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor of Educational Sciences, Department of Educational Management, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran
3 - Associate Professor of Educational Management, Department of Educational Management, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran

Received: 2021-02-14 Accepted : 2021-02-25 Published : 2021-12-22

Keywords: Education, Principals, lived experience, exceptional students, phenomenology,

Abstract :

This study examines the nature of the lived experience of the principals in the schools of the ministry of education in Iran. Appreciating the experience of the principals in the management of schools will open a new horizon for educational administration on which the conceptual model of educational administration, policies, and strategic and operational programs will be developed by managers of organization.  This research is qualitative that have been done with the phenomenological method of lived experience. The data collection method was semi-structured; each interview lasted between 30 and 45 minutes. Nonprobability and purposive sampling by snowball method and saturation rule was applied for this research through interviews with 8 school principals. This study examines the narratives of a number of exceptional school principals and their lived experiences during their administration. The research in question is narrative and is considered ​​qualitative and interpretive research. The source of the data in this study is the lived experience of these eight managers during their management period. Data analysis showed that exceptional school principals with high managerial ability possess thorough knowledge about the distinctive qualities of exceptional students compared with ordinary students. Developing some positive personal traits and using their managerial experiences would render them into capable and competent principals for exceptional schools.