JOURNAL OF EDUCATION
Year:2019 | Volume:35 | Issue:3 (139) |Papers Count:8

To present a framework for compassionate teaching, the views of teachers and students on the topic were sought. These informants were chosen from among their corresponding populations in Tehran, using the snowball and mixed methods. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather the needed data. To analyze the data open coding and descriptive categorization were utilized. Results show that from the teachers’ perspective the design of compassion-based teaching has two general methods one that emphasizes cooperation and student-centeredness, while the other is goal-oriented and emphasizes lack of flexibility and unnecessary designing. In students’ view, teacher’ s bi-dimensional role is separated from that of the student. The moral dimension includes flexibility, being conscientious, motivated, and law-oriented, while the skill dimension includes skills like planning, teaching, managing, and being knowledgeable. Students’ role emphasizes cooperation, motivation, learning and good performance, discipline, and hard work. Based on these findings, a four layer framework for compassion-based teaching is presented.

In order to explore the cultural domains of Tehrani elementary schools vis-à-vis distributed leadership, a sample of 16 teachers, 8 assistant principals, and 8 principals was selected purposefully from districts 2, 6, and 11. The informants were interviewed in a semi-structured fashion. Data analyses revealed 19 main factors upon which a model for the cultural domains of the elementary schools in Tehran was developed. These factors stem from the respondents’ understanding and interpretation of the school cultural aspects. In the selective coding stage a central factor from among all the main factors, namely the dominance of an individualistic atmosphere, was extracted, upon which a theoretical narrative is developed. Finally, in the light of the analyses of the schools’ cultural aspects, the possibilities of implementing distributed leadership in Tehrani elementary schools is discussed.

Given the importance of economic training, it has been successfully incorporated in the elementary school curricula in Australia, China, and Scotland. However, the absence of such topic within the Iranian curriculum requires a model based on the successful experiences of these countries. The selected three curricula were initially described, then interpreted, categorized, and finally compared and contrasted. The similarity between the selected countries seem to be in the goals of economic training which are defined in the two domains of knowledge and skills, while their difference is in Australian emphasis on the concurrent use of all three domains of knowledge, values, and skills. In the way of organization having a common course in social studies, and in the area of learning opportunities, the emphasis on activity, inquiry, debate, and their related technologies are other similarities. China stands aside when it comes to valuing economic literacy as an extra-curricular activity.

To construct a model in which competencies expected from female high school students are outlined, from among all experts in psychology, education, Islamic studies, and Islamic counseling working in Tehran high schools, 18 were initially and purposefully selected and then interviewed extensively on the topic. The sampling and interviewing continued to the point of saturation. Content analyses of the responses yielded five main categories and 22 subcategories in which competencies are categorized. The main categories consist of the following: religious outlook and training, human identity and benevolence, physical/psychological health, skills and capabilities, and morality and moral behavior. A perusal of the Fundamental Reform Document of Education revealed that much of the competencies outlined by the experts in this study match those mentioned in this document. Hence, the findings can be used in implementing the reforms outlined therein.

If professional competencies were of any importance in any educational environment, they would be clearly and emphatically covered in teacher training and in-service training programs in that environment, leading to a common perception among both working teachers and student-teachers. To explore this situation here in Kordestan, a group of 16 student-teachers and 15 working teachers were interviewed in a semi-structured manner. Data analyses led to the identification of themes and their classification across both groups. Comparison of the two sets of data reveals that the student-teachers perceive professional competency to be having a teacher’s characteristics, professional preparedness, response to the changing environmental demands, and the ability in interacting and communicating with others positively. The other group, on the other hand, perceive competency as being able to impact the environment and the potential beneficiaries, knowledge and ability to communicate positively, appearing in multiple roles, and abiding by the professional principles.

Given the importance of care centers in helping with the children’ s developmental processes, the management style and model employed therein becomes crucial in terms of its effectiveness. To define a framework for effective management in child care centers, a set of 163 articles/documents was reviewed and 55 of them, meeting the predetermined criteria, were identified. By synthesizing the findings of these studies 11 components along with 175 factors were discovered. These included internal factors such as the teacher and the administrator, as well as external factors like governmental system, general culture, and universities. The impact indices of all factors was determined in order to present a conceptual framework for effective management of a child care center. From among internal factors managerial skills, and from among external ones, governmental support were identified as the most important. Thus, it is recommended that the certifying agencies and the university community pay closer attention to these factors in order to improve the quality of these centers.

The widespread organizational indifference is of great concern to contemporary organizational leadership, leading to attempts at finding ways of preventing or controlling it. In this research the mediating role of psychological empowerment between leadership and indifference is examined. The respondents to a set of questionnaires on the three constructs are a sample of 361 elementary school teachers selected randomly and categorically from among all 5076 such teachers in Kermanshah. Data analyses revealed a probable reduction in organizational indifference as a result of authentic leadership since such leadership apparently leads to psychological empowerment, and this to lower indifference.