Representation of school principals' experiences of quality education policy
Publisher: name: University Of Kurdistan
Year: 2021

description: The education system and the basic activities in which it is formed, i.e. the\ntraining of human resources and capital, are the basis of sustainable\ndevelopment; Therefore, the quantity and quality of this education plays an\nimportant and vital role in the welfare and prosperity of nations. Schools, as\nthe technical units of the educational system, have the most important task in\nthis field. However, the tasks that managers have to do and the tasks that are\nassigned to them are very diverse and diverse. Therefore, managers must\nhave a range of skills, especially political skills, in order to be able to make\nserious decisions in specific situations. Because policy-making is an\nundeniable issue in relation to the work of managers, the present study was\nconducted with the method of narrative research with the aim of representing\nmanagers' experiences of policy-making in the direction of quality\nimprovement and with an interpretive approach. Episodic interviews were\nused to collect data. Participants in the study were school principals in\nSanandaj and sampling was purposeful. After interviewing 15 people, the\ndata were categorized and analyzed inductively based on thematic analysis.\nThe analysis showed that the political, social, economic, cultural, human,\ntechnological or professional and legal factors, in turn, can influence the\npolicy-making process.\nEconomy as one of the effective factors in the field of education and improving\nits quality has always been one of the main indicators of development and\nexcellence of education and the main criterion for the development and\nimprovement of policy in education and development. Analysis of\ninformation related to economic factors indicates that economic factors play a\ndecisive role in policy making. In fact, economic factor has been one of the  criteria for the development and improvement of educational activities. The\nlack of educational per capita, parents’ reluctance to helping the school,\nInsufficient teachers' salaries, and consequently teachers' lack of motivation\nto continue their educational activities, lack of proper educational facilities,\nexistence of dilapidated buildings and the lack of attention to educational\ninfrastructure, are among the indicators that motivate principals to activities.\nAll of these provide quality education or prevent them from working in this\nfield.\nLegal factors refer to those factors that are related to the structure and\nadministrative regulations and organizational duties and roles. Analysis of\ndata on legal factors shows that the existence of obvious discrimination\nbetween school principals, teachers and, to a lesser extent, students, affects\nprincipals' performance in improving the quality and development of\nappropriate policies in education. Public school principals often point to\ndiscrimination and partisanship in the administration, and find this to be a\nmotivating factor. Certainly, the existence of incorrect and inappropriate\npolicies reduces the efficiency of any organization. Despite the inner desire\nof the principal or teacher, discrimination in the selection, encouragement,\nand promotion of the organization, etc., causes that they do not make an\neffort to implement their positive ideas and thoughts to develop the quality of\neducation and are even less active. Also, the inability of principals in\nchoosing their teachers for school is another legal problem. This, in turn,\ncreates a conflict between the needs of schools and the demands of higher\nauthorities, which in the long run reduces the quality and increases the\ndissatisfaction of school principals and teachers.\nPolitical factors refer to the adoption of appropriate policies by managers to\nimplement laws, programs, and communiqués with the aim of achieving\nbetter quality. Analysis of data about political factors shows that the\nexistence of useful and constructive interaction and communication between\nexecutive factors in the school and setting school goals in the direction of\nrules and regulations communicated to schools can be among the political\nfactors. When all the executive agents in the school can work together and\nenforce the rules and regulations, the policy-making in these schools will be\nbetter and the quality of education will be improved. Principals who can\ncoordinate laws, regulations, and sometimes contradictory communications,\nand align teachers and other school agents in line with the main purpose of\nthe school, and by creating constructive and appropriate interaction with\ndifferent sectors of education provide the ground for internal and external\ncoherence, the quality of education will be affected, and schools will improve\nqualitatively.\nSocial factors refer to social contexts that provide appropriate policies for quality\ndevelopment in schools and establish the necessary balance between the environment and educational activities. Analysis of information on social\nfactors shows that one of the important factors in the social mismatch\nbetween education and the environment is the lack of attention to the needs\nof the labor market. Schools, as suppliers of skilled and capable manpower in\nthe industrial and social fields, need to keep pace with the needs of the labor\nmarket and cultivate a workforce that is commensurate with their needs and\nwants, which is one of the important aspects of policy-making. Another\nsocial factor is related to the mismatch of subjects with students' abilities and\ntalents. When students' social and individual abilities are not taken into\naccount in keeping with environmental and social activities, the subjects will\nnot be in line with these abilities. Consequently, school trainings will not be\neffective in practice. Cultural factors refer to those factors that are related to\nthe values, norms, and managerial attitudes related to quality and its\ndevelopment in schools. Analysis of information on cultural factors shows\nthat the lack of proper culture in the field of education and ignorance of many\npeople in the school community is one of the major problems in reducing\nquality and inappropriate policies in the field of education development.\nParental illiteracy, lack of useful education for them, lack of communication\nbetween home and school, inconsistency of home and school values, fading\nof high religious values and inappropriate innovations have caused school\nprincipals to discuss appropriate and up-to-date policies with problems.\nTherefore, principals need to focus on the quality development of school\neducation (while maintaining positive relationships with society and the\nenvironment and family) and provide moral and cultural context for students,\nwho in the future will lead and develop culture.