Educational Leadership Research

Abstract The present study aimed to identify the challenges of teacher empowerment from the perspective of teachers and principals of elementary schools. The research method used was qualitative and phenomenological. The study population included teachers and principals of elementary schools in Tehran's District 2 during the academic year 2021-2022. Purposive sampling was used, and 34 people were selected, including 24 teachers and 10 principals, and sampling continued until theoretical saturation was reached. Semi-structured interviews were used as the research tool. The data were analyzed using content analysis (open, axial, and selective coding). According to the results, the challenges facing teacher empowerment are: managerial challenges, financial obstacles, personal issues of teachers, and inappropriate course content. From the perspective of school teachers, the most important challenge related to managerial challenges is teachers' personal issues. From the perspective of administrators, teachers' personal issues are among the most important challenges to their empowerment. The overall results of the study indicate that currently, from the perspective of teachers and administrators, teacher empowerment in schools faces many challenges, although there are schools that are seeking to empower their teachers in a new and efficient way.

Abstract Contemporary organizations increasingly face the widespread issue of workplace loneliness, which undermines individual performance and personal satisfaction. New teachers, in particular, are vulnerable to emotional deprivation, a lack of constructive relationships, psychological burnout, depression, and anxiety within school environments. Given that organizational loneliness remains a relatively new and underexplored concept in Iran-especially in the context of education-this study aims to identify, examine, and analyze the lived experiences of novice elementary school teachers with respect to organizational loneliness. The research specifically focuses on contributing factors, consequences, and individual and collective coping strategies. Adopting a qualitative phenomenological approach, the study involved 12 new teachers in Ilam, selected through purposive sampling. Data were gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews, continuing until theoretical saturation was achieved. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for demographic profiling and thematic analysis via MAXQDA20 software. To ensure validity, member checking was employed, and inter-coder agreement was used to verify coding reliability. The findings categorized the contributing factors into four dimensions: individual, socio-cultural, psychological, and occupational-encompassing 36 subthemes. The consequences of organizational loneliness were similarly grouped into four domains: personal, interpersonal, psychological, and professional, comprising 37 subthemes. In terms of solutions, 24 individual strategies (including communicative and professional aspects) and 21 collective strategies (psychological, group-based, occupational, and interpersonal) were identified. The study concludes that organizational loneliness has significant negative implications for both individuals and institutions. As loneliness continues to rise globally, recognizing its causes and consequences within organizational settings is of critical importance. Understanding novice teachers' experiences in this regard can provide educational administrators with valuable insights to foster greater job satisfaction, organizational commitment, creative engagement, social interaction, teamwork, and a stronger sense of belonging among teachers-particularly by addressing the critical role of organizational support.
The findings revealed four categories of factors contributing to organizational loneliness: individual, socio-cultural, psychological, and occupational, encompassing 36 concepts. Additionally, 37 consequences were identified, including personal, communicative, psychological, and job-related effects. The study also proposed 24 individual and 21 group strategies for addressing loneliness. The results indicate that organizational loneliness has detrimental effects on both individuals and organizations, highlighting the importance of understanding its causes and consequences. Investigating this issue can help improve new teachers' attitudes, job attachment, social interactions, teamwork, and overall job satisfaction, particularly by addressing the lack of organizational support that contributes to their feelings of loneliness.

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread shift to online instruction brought increased attention to the importance of educational supervision. During this period, educational supervisors played a key role in improving instructional quality and supporting the professional development of teachers. Given the importance of supervision in virtual education, this qualitative study—conducted using a phenomenological approach—examines the experiences of educational supervision during the era of online learning. The participants included educational supervisors, instructional leaders, school principals, and assistant principals in the Kurdistan province of Iran who were engaged in virtual educational supervision during the 2020–2021 academic year. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews based on purposive and theoretical sampling until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data analysis and theme extraction were conducted using the Attride–Stirling (2001) framework and MAXQDA 2020 software. Three overarching themes emerged: advancement of educational supervision, modernization of supervision practices, and professional development of educational supervisors. The findings indicate that at the onset of online education, supervisors experienced confusion and encountered challenges in monitoring virtual classrooms. They initially relied on supervisory models designed for face-to-face teaching and, at times, approached the supervision process with a degree of leniency. Over time, however, supervisors gradually adapted to the new conditions and adopted updated strategies for virtual supervision. They also became increasingly aware of their evolving role within the supervision and instructional process. Furthermore, virtual supervision holds potential for enhancing the professional skills and knowledge of both teachers and supervisors in the post-pandemic era.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to analyze the problems of the thesis implementation process and dissertations of the students of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of Tehran University and to provide some solutions to the existing problems. The present study was conducted in the framework of qualitative approach with phenomenological method. The research field was the University of Tehran and the participants were 8 postgraduate students and postgraduate students of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Tehran. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using the George method in five steps. Research findings showed that graduate students' perceptions of students' problems in the process of their thesis and dissertation were divided into 7 general themes including student problems or individual factors (9 themes), professors' problems (10 themes), macro community problems (8 themes), Includes bureaucratic problems (8 sub-themes), problem selection (2 sub-themes), material problems (3 sub-themes) and implementation problems (2 sub-themes).