secondary schools

This study is aimed at (1) examining the preferred English learning styles among secondary school students; (2) exploring the mismatches in teachers’ English teaching styles and students’ learning style preferences. A quantitative approach was used to seek answers to the research questions. The sample of this research involved 204 students and 5 teachers of English from 5 different secondary schools in Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR. All student and teacher participants were invited to rate their agreement levels on a five-point rating scale, towards Reid’s (1995) six learning style preferences. The data collected were analyzed based on descriptive statistics. The findings reveal that student participants had more than one preferred learning styles. They preferred Kinesthetic, Group, and Audio learning styles in their English classes. For them, learning through doing, learning and working together with classmates, doing or resolving challenging tasks as well as listening to teachers and someone’s instructions through interaction made them learn more effectively. The study also finds that mismatches in styles between teachers’ teaching styles and students’ learning style preferences do exist in four out of the five sampled schools. Teachers are more oriented to Visual styles. For instance, they favor writing things on board, asking students to read from textbooks, provide activities that make students read rather than listen to instructions, while students are likely not to prefer the Visual learning style.

Purpose: The present study was conducted with the aim of "providing a model for creating happiness and vitality in high schools". Methodology: The present study was a descriptive (qualitative and quantitative) method in terms of practical purpose, field method and data collection method in terms of practical purpose. The statistical population of this study was 30 experts in the field of happiness, 30,000 high school students, 4800 high school teachers in Alborz, about 80 high school girls and finally high school experts in the general administration. The education department has about 55 members. Based on the principle of saturation in the interview, a sample number of comments from 21 experts was recorded. Based on the Cochran's formula, 380 high school students, 355 high school teachers, 67 high school principals, and 48 school principals were appointed. Data collection method was used in the qualitative part of the field method for semi-structured interview and in a small part of the researcher-made questionnaire. The formal validity and content of the questionnaire were performed by experts, supervisors and advisors, and its reliability was obtained by Cronbach's alpha. The total questionnaire was 0.98, which was distributed and summarized. The influential components were extracted and based on it, the proposed research model consisted of four main sections including the philosophy and objectives of the model, theoretical foundations, conceptual framework and executive steps. Findings: According to the results obtained from the perspective of the participants in the research, 5 factors of physical space (physical), educational activities (cultural-artistic), educational activities, comprehensive characteristics, and the financial situation of the school in the form of 10 components, physical space, component of exciting situations, holding extracurricular workshops, job skills and individual characteristics of school staff, quality of educational content, scientific-research activities, ethical-social, characteristics Emotional-psychological, family, and school financial status have contributed to the creation of happiness and vitality in high schools and educational settings. Conclusion: Student happiness as an important part of teaching if students need education and emotional needs can lead to academic achievement and better student performance.

Purpose: The efficiency of various organizations, especially educational organizations, depends to a large extent on the accountability of their principals. Therefore, the aim of the present research was to analyze the dimensions and components of promoting the accountability of secondary school principals. Methodology: This was an applied qualitative study. The study population included academic experts in educational management and educational sciences of Hormozgan province in 2020-2021. According to the principle of theoretical saturation, the sample size was estimated to be 10 individuals who were selected by purposive sampling method. The data collection instrument included a semi-structured interview. The validity of the above instrument was confirmed by the triangulation method and its reliability was calculated 0.85 using intercoder agreement coefficient. Finally, data analysis was carried out by open, axial and selective coding method in MAXQDA ver. 2018. Findings: The results of the present research showed that promoting the accountability of secondary school principals consisted of 32 indices, 9 components and 3 dimensions as follows: social accountability with two components of commitment to others and justification of an action to others, organizational accountability with four components of monitoring mechanisms, reporting, downward accountability and internal accountability, and functional accountability with three components of individual accountability, transparency and participation. Finally, the model of promoting the accountability of secondary school principals was drawn. Conclusion: According to the results of the current research, in order to promote the accountability of secondary school principals, it is necessary to promote social, organizational, and functional accountability dimension and their indices and components.

Purpose: Considering the role of quantum leadership in improving the performance and effectiveness of organizations, the aim of the current research was to design a quantum leadership model in secondary schools based on grounded theory. Methodology: This was an applied qualitative study and its population included experts and principals of the educational system of Iran in 2020. A total of 20 people were selected using snowball sampling. The data collection tool included a semi-structured interview, the validity of which was confirmed by the review of participants and the review of non-participating experts, and its reliability was obtained 0.83 by calculating the inter-coder agreement. The data were analyzed by the coding method based on the grounded theory in MAXQDA software. Findings: The results showed that the quantum leadership model in secondary schools consisted of 45 concepts in 8 components and 6 categories. The category of causal conditions included two components of building quantum trust and agreement and quantum thought. The category of background conditions included one component of quantum development platform. The category of intervention conditions included one component of positive and negative interveners. The core category included a component of quantum school, the category of strategies included two components of quantum leadership and quantum creativity, and the category of outcomes included a component of quantum learning. Finally, the quantum leadership model in secondary schools was designed based on the grounded theory. Conclusion : According to the quantum leadership model in secondary schools and based on the experts and principals of the education system of Iran, it seems necessary to plan to improve the status of schools by improving the identified concepts and components

Autonomous learning is a study skill that may be challenging not only to learners with a dependent learning style but also to teachers used to teacher-oriented methodology. However, the considerable shift in the teaching and learning paradigm especially after the 2020 pandemic has made autonomous learning a must-gain skill. This research aimed to explore EFL teachers' perceptions of learner autonomy (LA), their actual practices, and the challenges of LA promotion at Omani secondary schools. It also investigated possible associations between teachers' beliefs about promoting LA and their academic level, gender, and years of experience. Within a convergent mixed-method parallel design, thirty Omani EFL school teachers were selected through convenience sampling to participate in the study. The instruments included teachers’ perceptions questionnaire, classroom observation data, and interviews with teachers. Frequency counts, ordinal regression analysis, and grounded theory were used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data. The results revealed that although EFL teachers at Omani secondary schools practice some strategies that promote learner autonomy, these practices are not intentionally and exclusively implemented for LA purposes. Moreover, the results showed some discrepancies between teachers’ beliefs and their actual practices of LA due to some constraints and challenges such as the intensive English curriculum, teachers being overloaded with numerous school tasks besides teaching, learners' limited exposure to English outside the classroom, and teachers' inadequate professional background in the concept, principles, and practices of learner autonomy. No significant association was found between the teachers' general beliefs about LA and their particulars. It may be argued that the concept of autonomous learning and strategies to promote LA should be included as a core component of teacher training programs. By the same token, more self-study and self-assessment practices may be added to the English course materials in schools to help learners develop this essential skill for their higher education.

Subsequently, teachers' perceptions of the concept of "Teaching to Transgress" in secondary schools were analyzed. The qualitative research approach and in particular the Phenomenographical strategy was used. The research field was secondary school teachers (government, normal, gifted, exemplary and non-selective) in Sanandaj city. Therefore, teachers of several secondary schools in the city were included as research participants. The sampling was done purposively. Finally, to achieve maximum diversity and to reach the category of theoretical data saturation with 16 teachers, the charter of semi-structured interviews and sending written questions to the teachers and their responses in the form of texts were continued. The method of data analysis was also carried out using the three-stage method of thematic analysis (open, central and selective).  The results of the study show that the components of transgression teaching in secondary schools are as follows engaging class, progressive teaching, teaching full of amazement, transformational education, valuing desire, enthusiasm in learning, changing the name and position of teachers, developing Students' sense of agency and creation with peers is learning. Also, the challenges teaching to Transgress included the violation of school arrangements, the academic decline of teachers and the school, and the deprivation of school management support. Finally, the consequences teaching to Transgress for schools include improving the status of knowledge based on new perspectives, revolution in educational culture, creating a diverse educational context, strengthening the relationship of teachers with marginalized and oppressed communities, the emergence of independent thinking and analysis, and evolution in evaluation and valuation.

The main goal of this research was to analyze the role of schools' principals in the formation of the hidden curriculum of secondary schools in Tabriz. The research was carried out through mixed method research (qualitative and quantitative) of exploratory type. The research community was formed by academic experts and professors in the field of education, curriculum development, and public education and principals of successful schools. In the qualitative phase, the opinions of various experts were collected through the grounded theory method (by using semi-structured interview) and analyzed and classified through coding steps. Based on the theoretical saturation criterion, 17 participants were selected in a purposive way in the qualitative phase and in the quantitative phase 356 experts, school principals and educational assistants of schools. Data was collected by semi-structured interview and analyzed by structural equation method with smartpls4 software. As a result, 103 indicators, 24 components and 6 dimensions were obtained, which were presented in the form of a paradigm model. In the quantitative phase, a survey research method and a researcher-made questionnaire tool were used. Also, in the quantitative section, using the structural equation method, it was determined that among the obtained components, the effort participation component with a coefficient of (0.912) is the first priority and the rules and regulations component with a coefficient of (0.619) is the last priority. The main result and suggestion of the research is that more and special attention should be given to the components that were placed in the first priorities.