Journal of Management and Planning in Educational Systems
Year:2021 | Volume:13 | Issue:2 (25)|Papers Count:12

Objective: Today, most countries have a lot of emphasis on quality assurance mechanisms in higher education. One of these mechanisms is external evaluation. Despite the emphasis of upstream documents on the need to provide a framework for the establishment of a quality assurance system and, consequently, the implementation of external evaluation in higher education, so far little has been done to carry out external evaluation in the country. Therefore, in the current study, it has been attempted to validate and weigh the "factors, criteria and indicators" for external evaluation in education departments in public universities in Tehran according to experts' opinion. Materials: To this end, a quantitative approach, descriptive-survey method and questionnaire were used. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed by Cronbach's alpha and combined reliability through the use of PLS statistical software. The content and face validity of the questionnaire were also evaluated according to the opinion of the supervisors and consultants and the initial interviewers. Structural validity was calculated and confirmed by factor analysis using PLS software. Also, reliability was calculated and confirmed by the Cronbach's alpha test and the composite reliability index. Results and Discussion: The findings indicated that except for the criterion "1. 6. department regulations and approvals" and indicators like "1. 2. 5. faculty members' satisfaction with department manager", and "1. 2. 6. student satisfaction with department manager", and "3. 1. 3. proportionality of number of admissions with the capacity of department training courses" the other criteria and indicators presented (27 out of 28 criteria and 74 out of 77 indicators) for evaluating the external factors of education departments in public universities of Tehran were valid and reliable, and consequently, they had the optimum level of completeness and adequacy. Also, the importance and weight of each indicator and criterion were determined based on factor load, which could be used to prioritize them in evaluating each factor. It is worth noting that at the end of the questionnaire, a section was designed for participants to provide their suggestions to be added to the list of the aforementioned factors, criteria and indicators. At the end, their suggestions were presented. In their view, except for the factors "4. courses and curriculum implemented" and "5. teaching-learning process", we can add some items to the other factors – i. e. "1. objectives, organizational position, management and organization", "2. faculty", "3. students", and "6. graduates"-in order to increase the adequacy and consistency of external evaluation criteria and indicators.

Objective: This paper aimed to study "international education hubs" as the latest generation of internationalization abroad or cross-border strategy. This study had a qualitative approach with a documentary methodology and a critical purposive sampling including four countries of Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Iran stipulated this policy in their national policy documents. Materials and Methods: The components studied in this research comprised of “ date of establishment” , “ regulations and policies” , "planning and implementation strategies", "driving rationales" and "investment approach". The data collected from documents, reports and papers containing the required information on education hubs strategy in the sample countries. For data analysis, Bereday’ s comparative method has been adopted. Discussion & Conclusion: The data analysis results indicated that although, the policy of establishing an education hub has been implied in Iran’ s national policy documents years before, Gulf countries have adopted an active and strategic approach in planning and implementation phases of shaping an international education hub. Bahrain has stipulated in it’ s policy documents to be an international innovation hub as well as an international student hub. Moreover, Qatar has planned to be a talent hub alongwith an innovation hub and U. A. E has planned to be an international student hub as well as a talent hub. On the other hand, Iran's higher education system has planned to become a "virtual education hub" which is a new type within the existing hubs in the Pesian Gulf region. Investment and financial resources for establishment of an education hub was different in the studied Arab higher education systems from those of Iran’ s higher education system. In UAE, Bahrain and Qatar, the financial resources are from internal-public, internal-private and international-private sources while, in Iran the financial resources are from internal-public, internal-private and international-public sources. The policy recommendation for Iran higher education system is first prioritizing implementation of "internationalization at home” strategy the core of which is “ internationalization of curriculm” and then developing the strategy of internationalization abroad and turning into an international education hub.

Objective: This study aimed to construct the synergistic leadership scale in Iranian universities and validate it in Isfahan's University. Materials and Methods: From a methodological point of view, this research is a sequential exploratory mixed study. A purposeful sampling method was used to collect information in the qualitative part. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 14 faculty members with executive experience and expert in management and leadership knowledge in the country's universities. However, an interview was deleted due to a lack of effective information. The interviews stopped with theoretical saturation. In the quantitative section, the statistical population was 650 faculty members of the University of Isfahan. The sample size was determined according to Krejcie and Morgan's table; it was done by stratified random sampling and the designed questionnaire based on the findings of the qualitative section was distributed among them. To determine the validity of the qualitative section, a re-study was used by peers and researchers and the reliability of this section was confirmed by theoretical saturation in the data collection stage and with retest reliability, which becomes 90%. And to determine the validity of the researcher-made questionnaire, content validity, divergent validity, and construct validity were used. Cronbach's alpha (0. 951) was used to determine the questionnaire's reliability. Result and Discussion: The analysis of the qualitative section was based on the grounded theory approach and the analysis was based on open, axial and selective coding. To test the validity of the questionnaire, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, including construct validity, convergent validity, and divergent validity, were used, and for reliability, Cronbach's alpha coefficient and combined reliability were used. The results of factor analysis showed the optimal fit of each of the items with the factors. They showed that each of the load-bearing factors is a suitable factor to predict the questionnaire's main dimensions. As a result, the designed scale has high validity and reliability and can measure the realization of synergistic leadership in universities. Finally, as a result, the final form of the questionnaire was set as follows: causal factors through 11 items, coherent phenomena or synergistic leadership components through 8 items, context factor which appropriate for executing synergistic leadership through 12 items, Intervening factors through 7 items, strategies for executing synergistic leadership through 13 items, and The Consequences of implementation of synergistic leadership were measured through 12 items. Quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS and Smart PLS software. Due to the lack of native measurement tools for synergistic leadership, the designed questionnaire seems to be able to address this gap, Therefore, this questionnaire can be used in future researches on synergistic leadership in universities. Finally, the researcher explained the six factors of the paradigmatic pattern of synergistic leadership with their axial codes and provided practical suggestions for the realization of synergistic leadership in universities.

Objective: The purpose of this research is to study the trend of management research with emphasis on the concept of leadership in order to take advantage of its implications in management and leadership of education. Materials and mehods: The research was carried out using mapping and bibliographic analysis using data from the WOS database. The structure and patterns of information exchanged in the field of leadership research as well as the interpretation of the relationship between the keywords used in the research were extracted and analyzed using VOS viewer software. The statistical population included 6540 articles, which often contained high-quality articles. Result and Discussion: The results showed that the number of articles of leadership from 2000 to 2018 has been increasing. The articles were presented in the form of complete research papers and conference papers. The most prestigious publications belonged to the countries of the United States, Canada and England, and to the universities of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Manchester. Most international collaborations in the publication of papers have been conducted by countries and researchers from the United States, China, the United Kingdom and Australia, respectively. In the treasury of keywords used in research, the concept of leadership is mainly used in interacting with the concepts of efficiency, philosophy, philosophy of science, ethics, knowledge, vision, ideas and innovation. From the data presented, it can be seen that, first, attention to the concept of leadership has increased over time. Secondly, the concept of leadership has been integrated with mental concepts. This indicates the need for attention to mental and linguistic concepts and approaches in management research and educational leadership.

Objective: The purpose of the present research is to identify the effective factors in the assessment of research productivity of faculty members in the fields of humanities and social sciences of the University of Tehran. Materials and methods: This research was conducted using a qualitative approach and content analysis method. Semi-structured interview tools were used to collect the research data. With targeted sampling, interviews were conducted with 18 faculty members from universities. The data were analyzed in two stages of open and axial coding. The validity of the research findings was guaranteed by member checking, external audit, and data source triangulation. Result and discussion: The results of the qualitative analysis of the research showed that the main factors in evaluating the research productivity of the faculty members were identified in three dimensions: the factor of the quality of the research outcomes (the quality of the article, book, dissertation, innovation and ethics in the research), the effect of research achievements (Citations, research interactions, dissemination and application of results, promotion of science, technology, income, and research credibility) and research environment (financial and physical resources, human resources and incentive mechanism).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze the curriculum of empirical science at the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades of elementary school based on Vark's learning styles. Materials and Method: It was a content analysis descriptive research using Shannon entropy method. The statistical population included the curriculum (purpose, content, methodology and evaluation) of the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades of the elementary school. The statistical sample of curricula is social studies subject. In order to analyze the existing curriculum (intended) with each learning style, the objectives of the textbooks were first studied, then the content of the textbook was examined. And in order to review the proposed methods, we analyzed the teaching manual. In the evaluation section, the questions raised in the textbooks and the teaching guide were analyzed. The research tool was Vark's Learning Styles Checklist (1998), which was developed based on the VARK Learning Styles Questionnaire and questionnaire and provided coding analysis to three researchers in planning to ensure the reliability of the obtained analyzes. A lesson was agreed and the percentage of agreement was estimated to be 0. 88. Result and Discussion: The results of data analysis showed that in the curriculum of empirical science at the fourth and sixth elementary grades, the visual style was first and the Read/write style in the fifth rank. In fifth grade, the auditory style was first, and the combinative style in the fifth rank. Therefore, it can be said that the preferred style in the empirical science curriculum is the visual style in the fourth and sixth grades and the auditory style in the fifth grade.

Objective: Designing a model for evaluating teachers' effective performance is a major challenge in the Ministry of Education, and stakeholders in this field are dissatisfied with current evaluation methods. Therefore, the aim of this study was to provide a model for evaluating the performance based on the competence of high school teachers. Materials and Methods: To do this, a combined qualitative-quantitative exploratory method was used. The qualitative part was based on Strauss-Corbin's Grounded theory approach and experimental data obtained from open interviews with 20 experts. A theoretical model emerged from the interviews obtained through an open, central, and selective coding analytical process. From open coding to saturating concepts and creating categories, axial coding to raise categories and the process of relating them to their subcategories to select the central phenomenon and from selective coding to create a theoretical arrangement of categories The original was used to build the model. Discussion and Conclusion: As a result of constructing the model, competency-based performance criteria were explained with the subcategories of behavioral-moral-emotional competencies, knowledge, professional, attitude, general and specialized performance criteria as a central phenomenon. Also nine strategies of targeting, determining design considerations, comprehensive design of performance appraisal, guide and consulting, laying the groundwork for improving performance appraisal, improving the quality of performance appraisal, selecting appraiser, designing performance appraisal tools, determining how to conduct performance appraisal It resulted. The results show that performance appraisal occurs under the influence of causal, intervening and contextual conditions that affect selecting appropriate strategies and consequently the consequences. The validity of the model was evaluated with Lincoln-Guba indices and its reliability was assessed with a Creswell-based dual coding strategy. By distributing 360 cluster questionnaires randomly among teachers in 11 provinces, the theoretical model obtained by quantitative methods of structural equations was tested and confirmed through PLS3 software. Structural validity was performed using confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis and factor loads were higher than 0. 4 and subscription values were higher than 0. 5. The combined reliability and Cronbach's alpha values for all variables in the model were above 0. 7. The structural model fit test used indices of significant coefficients t, all t values were above 1. 96 and confirmed the relationships between variables. Suggestions and guidelines for future research were also provided.

Objective: The purpose of the present research was to reconstruct the role of principals in schools that tend to have entrepreneurial structures. Because in any organization, including schools that are intend to entrepreneurial structure, the role of principal is one of the determining and guiding roles. Materials and Methods: This study was a qualitative one with a phenomenological approach. For this purpose, ten entrepreneurial experts with practical experience in school systems were purposefully invited based on purposeful sampling and until theoretical saturation. A semi-structured interview was used to collect the data. The content of the interviews was analyzed using the content analysis method. Discussion and Conclusion: On the basis of basic coding, 97 components were recognized, and finally, 16 organizing constructs were formulated into 5 global themes as constituent components of the role of administrator in schools with a tendency for entrepreneurial structures. These roles were titled as Entrepreneurial Leadership, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Designer, Balancing between All School Stakeholders, Individualizer of School Schedules, and Network Culture Developer. These global roles have the capacity to reconstruct the role of entrepreneurial school principals. Also, school management focused on entrepreneurial roles is able to increase efficiency and create innovative values.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the dimensions, components and indicators of educational leadership for the management of the first primary school in Tehran, because leadership is a key factor in improving organizational performance and the success or failure of the organization depends on the effectiveness of leadership at all levels. Materials and methods: The research in terms of purpose is applied, in terms of data, quality is based on the grounded theory method, and in terms of the nature of implementation, it is descriptive. The research population consisted of experts and experts in the educational leadership field and university teachers with research and operational background related to the educational leadership subject. Sampling was done using a targeted snowball sampling of 18 people for interviews. After interviewing and summarizing the information, with the help of the data theory of the foundation, the categorization and encoding of concepts was made and the final model was obtained. In order to determine the validity of the findings, the data were adapted by studying the theoretical foundations and research background, interviewing the focal subjects, and obtaining the views and guidelines of a group of experts. Before the coding, a final review was done. The use of special procedures for coding and analyzing symbols and symbols and the rich description of the data was used to determine the external validity of the findings from the techniques of obtaining theoretical saturation. To determine the validity of the findings, data gathering techniques were used from multiple sources, analysis of negative cases and flexibility of the method, which all indicated the reliability and validity of the research findings. Discussion and conclusion: The results showed that the educational leadership model of managers of primary schools in Tehran has 248 indicators, 39 components, and 5 dimensions. Dimensions and components obtained are as follows: belief (value, visualization, comprehensiveness, meditations and flexibility), work structure and environment (educational evaluation, educational supervision, management of the learning process, learning development, professional development, educational discourse, and modeling), leadership style (administrative/managerial, collaborative, developmental, distributive, interactive, libertarian, emotional, educational, ethical and contingent), organizational and managerial ability (direction, analysis, and judgment, management improvement, Organizational capability, organizational culture, organizational climate, effective communication, veracity authority) and personal, intellectual and emotional characteristics of leadership (influence, insight, challenging, inspiring, encouraging, determined, sensitive, divergent thinking, interests and individual motives and value). After interviewing the experts, 224 indicators, 33 components, and 4 dimensions were identified, which were removed, modified and added by performing the Delphi technique and brainstorming in selective coding. Finally, 248 indicators were classified into 39 components and 5 dimensions. Therefore, the results indicate that it is necessary to provide a model of educational leadership appropriate to primary schools' specific characteristics in Tehran. Its implementation at the primary school level requires the full support of education officials and decision-makers.

Objective: Today, using the electronic learning systems incredibly has increased so that many universities, institutes and organizations have tended to virtual learning by using these systems. Hence, we need to study the effective factors on the success of these systems day to day. The previous literature shows that users' psychological factors are an effective factor in the success rate of these systems. This research has examined the effect of a psychological feature of users called Grit on the success of e-learning systems in the electronic training center. For doing so, the gritty variable is entered into the success model of McLean & Delone information systems. Materials and methods: This research is descriptive-analytic research, in which the information gathering method is a field survey. The statistical population of this research is 310 students of E-learning Center of Guilan University of which 173 persons were chosen by Cochran formula. Data collection in this research using the standard and local questionnaire is derived that we used Duckworth & Quinn (2009) and Aparicio et al. (2016). To determine the causal relationship between independent and dependent variables, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Partial Least Squares using SmartPIS3 software are used for statistical analysis of the collected data. Result and Discussion: The research findings indicate that users' gritty affect their use of the e-learning systems and users' satisfaction of the system. Also, other structural dimensions of McLean & Delone's success model is confirmed. Therefore, to improve users' use and satisfaction, it is suggested that they pay attention to their psychological characteristics and use it to customize users’ profiles. Also, gritty features should be considered in evaluating mental and student academic advice and education to enhance them.

Objective: Due to the decrease in student population, the importance of student loyalty in higher education is increasing. On the other hand, student's satisfaction can lead to loyalty as a competitive advantage. Educational Service Quality is also considered an important and effective challenge in this area. Thus this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of educational service quality on students' loyalty by satisfaction mediation. This was a descriptive survey study. Materials and methods: The statistical population consisted of all undergraduate, postgraduate, and Ph. D. students of Imam Khomeini International University. The stratified random sampling was done. Students' Loyalty, Satisfaction and Educational Service Quality questionnaires were used to collect data, to confirm the tool's reliability. The alpha coefficients respectively were 0. 91, 0. 87 and 0. 81, indicating the tools' desired reliability. Finally, 342 questionnaires were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Result and Discussion: The effect of educational service quality on satisfaction was positive and significant. The effect of satisfaction on loyalty was positive and significant. This study showed that the direct effect of educational service quality on students' loyalty was negative and not significant. But it affects the loyalty indirectly and through satisfaction. This finding emphasizes the importance of satisfaction as an influential variable in student loyalty and enhancement.

Objective: The context of leadership in higher education is dynamic, complex and multidimensional. Because of the complexity of the organization, multiple goals and traditional values of the universities, the nature of leadership in higher education is also ambiguous and controversial. For these reasons have led researchers to describe and analyze the basis of leadership in higher education from a different perspective. With the increasing diversity of student populations in universities, the Higher education system faces many challenges to create more capacity for them. Every day, these situations will become a part of the university's educational outlook in higher education. Understanding the roles and necessary skills to lead the student diversity can help the universities in this field. The present research aimed to examine the views of experts on the leadership of student diversity in Iran's higher education system. Materials and Method: The research sample included all the experts in the field of management, education sciences, social sciences, and psychology in Iranian universities which out of whom 16 experts were selected through purposeful sampling and based on theoretical saturation. The research approach is qualitative, and the study method is phenomenology. Data collection tool was a semi-structured interview, and the method of analysis was the topic analysis method. The research data were validated through member checking, peer checking, and external audit. Result and Discussion: The findings of this study showed that the six factors of justice-oriented, diversity-oriented, unity oriented, communication-oriented, lead oriented, and culture-oriented are components of Leadership of Student Diversity in the higher education system. the results also showed that the higher education system for three reasons individual, organizational and social importance should be responsive to the diversity of students. According to the findings of the study, it can be said that because of the changes is happening in the demographic trend of society and consequently in the higher education system, there are also changes in student demographic trends, so that we will see students with different ethnicities, races, cultures, religions, and beliefs in the university environment. These changes and demographic diversity will affect the structure of the higher education system. Because the higher education system is made up of a diverse combination of individuals and students, it requires individuals to manage this diverse population and with the right guidance of them, use their abilities to fulfill the goals of higher education and society. Therefore, diversity leadership must create a climate within the university environment that recognizes and accepts students' diversity and respects their values. Also, create a united and interconnected culture, support students by building a positive relationship with them, provide their needs, and consider values such as justice, equality, and impartiality in dealing with them.