The Roles of School Principals in Strengthening and Developing Thriving at Work among Teachers: the Results of a Mixed Research
Publisher: name: The University Of Kurdistan
Year: 2021

description: Introduction: School principals play a pivotal role in the success of schools.\nThey have a unique opportunity to influence the implementation of regulations\nand provide opportunities for the growth and development of teachers, staff, and\nstudents. Numerous studies have noted the impact of school principals on the\nstructure, culture, and missions of the school, creating and maintaining a healthy\nand positive learning environment, the growth and development of teachers'\nprofessions, encouraging teachers, ensuring their satisfaction, and Thriving\n(Cherian & Daniel,2008; Ross & Cozzens,2016). Thriving at work is one of the\nexamples of people's growth in work environments. During thriving at work,\nemployees feel empowered and experience a high level of psychological\nperformance (self-fulfillment) (Nielsen et al, 2012). Thriving at work is a mental\nstate in which people experience a sense of excitement and learning together in\ntheir work. The learning dimension refers to the knowledge and skills acquired,\nand the enthusiasm dimension refers to the positive and energetic feeling of\nbeing in the work environment (Spretizer et al, 2005). Both Common Sense and\nresearch in the field of thriving at work suggest that thriving at work has benefits\nsuch as a healthier lifestyle and better judgment about conditions, well-being,\nphysical and mental health for employees and better work performance,\ninnovative work behaviors, organizational citizenship behaviors for their\norganizations(Carmeli & Spretizer, 2009; Spretizer et al, 2012; Paterson et al,\n2014). Researchers believe that factors such as trust and respect, resource\ndevelopment, information distribution, and adequate oversight, safe working\nconditions, organizational support, leadership style, and behavior leaders affect athriving at work(Spretizer et al,2012; Taneva & Arnold,2015; Abid et al, 2015).\nMethod: The present mixed research has been implemented to identify the roles\nof school principals in strengthening thriving at work among teachers and\nevaluating the existent status of Khorramabad schools. For this purpose,\ndescriptive phenomenology was applied as a qualitative research method. In the\nqualitative section, by using purposeful and snowball sampling, 13 famous,\nexperience, and excellent teachers and principals, who according to parents' and\nadministrators' reports can be regarded as enjoying thriving at work, were\nselected and interviewed. The data were collected by semi-structured, interview,\nand general guidance methods and it continued until theoretical saturation. The\ndata analysis using the inductive content analysis method was conducted in three\nopen, axial, and selective levels.\nResults: 28 indicators and 6 dimensions (stimulating teachers, its creation of\nopportunities to enhance knowledge, school atmosphere, education supplies, the\nopportunity to choose and playing role model) were recognized by using content\nanalysis and coding procedure of interviews. in the quantitative section of this\nresearch applied a descriptive correlation and based on the identified indicators\nand dimensions a valid and reliable questionnaire was developed and completed\nby325 teachers selected from 2650 teachers in Khorramabad using a stratified\nrandom sampling method and Cochran's formula. Exploratory factor analysis\nwas performed to investigate the Factor structure and dimensional status. In\nexploratory factor analysis, the factor structure of the questionnaire was\nexamined using the “Principal Component Analysis " method. In the next step,\nan "Oilman rotation" was performed to determine the most appropriate factors.\nBy exploratory factor analyses is, 28indicators were identified and were\nclassified into 6 dimensions (stimulating teachers, its creation of opportunities to\nenhance knowledge, school atmosphere, education supplies, the opportunity to\nchoose, and playing role model (in the next step, To test the dimensions\nidentified in the qualitative section regarding roles of school principals in\nstrengthening thriving at work among teachers, second-order confirmatory factor\nanalysis was used. Results of confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the\nmeasurement model of latent variable has a good fit with observed data. To\nevaluating the existing status of the roles of school principals in strengthening\nthriving at work among teachers of Khorramabad schools in 6-dimension has\nbeen used t-test. Since the level of significance in all 6 dimensions of the roles of\nschool principals in strengthening thriving at work among teachers of\nKhorramabad schools is less than 0.05, it can be said with 0.95 confidence that\nthe roles of school principals in strengthening thriving at work among teachers\nof Khorramabad schools has been significantly higher than average in 6\ndimensions. Discussion and Conclusion: Based on the results, it can be claimed\nthat all 6 dimensions obtained from the duties of school principals(stimulating\nteachers, its creation of opportunities to enhance knowledge, school atmosphere, education supplies, the opportunity to choose and playing role model)have an\nimportant and effective role in strengthening and developing thriving at work of\nKhorramabad school teachers so that school principals can increase the morale\nand motivation of teachers and improve the quality of their performance by\nimproving working conditions, providing the ground for teachers 'participation\nin decisions, and giving importance and using teachers' opinions in schools.\nThey create knowledge-generating opportunities for teachers in both in-service\ntraining courses both courses in higher education centers and universities\nprovide opportunities for professional learning and the growth and development\nof teachers. Teachers' participation in decision-making also makes teachers feel\nthat they are important people, that their opinions and ideas are important to\nprincipals, and that they build mutual trust between them. Teachers' participation\nin decision-making leads to a greater sense of belonging, unity, and commitment\nof teachers to the educational organization and provides opportunities to use the\nexpertise and capabilities of teachers, increase teacher productivity, improve the\nindividual and the organization. In addition, principals provide educational\nfacilities, facilities, and equipment in schools causes the use of new teaching\nmethods, increases the depth of learning in the minds of students, growth of\ncreativity and innovation among students, strengthens the spirit of inquiry,\nparticipation, and thinking of students, strengthens educational processes\n(learning and teaching) and ultimately improves the quality of education. They\nincrease teachers' performance and motivation by giving them a reasonable\ndegree of autonomy and independence. People are more likely to experience\nmore excitement and learning when they act on their will. In addition to the\nabove, it can be said that without a doubt, most of the principals' time is spent in\ndirect and indirect contact with teachers. The quality of behavior, speech and\nmanagerial duties of school principals has a significant impact on teachers. They\nare role models for teachers in the scientific, religious, moral, disciplinary, legal,\nand personality fields. The results show that no matter how much school\nprincipals try to stimulating teachers, its creation of opportunities to enhance\nknowledge, school atmosphere, education supplies, the opportunity to choose\nand playing role model, teachers also pay more attention to students. And they\nmake the best use of class time and educational facilities for the growth and\ndevelopment of students and experience more thriving in their work.