محمدرضا آهنچیان

The main question of the present research was theorizing controversies and their reason in educational administration studies. The search for the answer to this question was done by genealogical method. In the present thesis, an attempt was made to investigate the end and method of theorizing and its supposed reasons as the two main topics of discussion in this controversy, by Foucaultian genealogy. Following the search for the roots, this study led to the discovery of the sources of theorizing, including scientific power and governmentality, three conflicting discourses of theorizing, and two major ruptures in the theorizing process of educational administration studies. The discourses were identified and divided into three categories: “conventionalism”, “sanctification of science” and “evolution”, and the ruptures were categorized as “methodological rupture” and “teleological rupture”. According to the findings of this study, it can be concluded that educational administration studies are on the one hand considered by experts in the fields of education and social sciences, and on the other hand, are favored by politicians and rulers as a political tool for governments. Contrary to the claims of many competing theories, the emergence of theory in educational administration studies in its global origin has been a tool of political governance rather than seeking to achieve ideal goals such as awareness, welfare, educational justice, democracy, freedom and education. Following the expansion of colonial territories in the European and American governments, facing the huge population of colonized countries such as India and China and the ineffectiveness of previous models of governance, technological tools of discipline from authoritarian and force-based governance are changed to governance based on the education and training of individuals in accordance with the demands of the ruler systems. In other words, according to the conflicting discourses and double ruptures, theorizing in educational administration studies from Foucault’s point of view as a technology of discipline in the modern era, where it has followed political purposes, has had no advantage for this field of study, and every theory with a new claim has increased the ambiguity and confusion in its theoretical nature.

This research has been done with a mixed exploratory method with the aim of identifying the perception and the degree of observance of professional ethics of school principals. The required data were collected using a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The statistical population of the study included all secondary school principals in Birjand. In quantitative phase, 75 people were selected as a sample by relative random sampling. 375 people were selected to be surveyed about the level of professional ethics of their managers. Then, based on the analysis of the findings of the quantitative stage of the research, the participants in the qualitative stage of the research (16 people) were selected by purposive sampling. Descriptive and inferential statistical indicators were used to analyze quantitative data and interpretive analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The results show that from the perspective of teachers, the professional ethics of principal is at a desirable level. Also, the variables of gender and level of education did not make a significant difference in the level of observance of managers' professional ethics. The results of the qualitative phase of the research also represented school principals' perceptions of professional ethics in five main dimensions, including benefit-oriented ethics, person-centered ethics, duty-based ethics, rights-oriented ethics, & justice-oriented ethics. Each of which included several categories. Also, the results obtained from data analysis showed that school principals have a better understanding of task-oriented ethics than other dimensions of professional ethics and benefit-oriented ethics is at a higher level in terms of compliance than other dimensions. But the dimension of justice-oriented ethics was lower than other dimensions in terms of both understanding and observance.