A Research on Effective Factors, Strategies and Consequences on the Link between School and Society in Iran

Abstract

Purpose: The link between school and community plays an important role in improving the school and adapting to the conditions and facilities of society. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to research on effective factors, strategies and consequences on the link between school and society in Iran. Methodology: In an applied research from type of qualitative, action to identified the effective factors, strategies and consequences on the link between school and society. The population of this study was professors and experts with scientific achievements in the field of sociology of education, policy makers and managers of education and school’s managers. The required sample size of the research was considered to be 18 people according to the principle of theoretical saturation, who were selected by purposive and snowball sampling methods. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview, which its validity was checked and confirmed by triangulation method and its reliability was checked and confirmed by reliability, trustworthiness, verifiability and transferability methods. Data analysis was done by thematic analysis method in MAXQDA software version 2021. Findings: The findings showed that the effective factors on the link between school and society had 15 sub-categories in 7 sub-categories and 2 main categories including structural factors (with 4 sub-categories of policies and strategies of macro future development, upstream document requirements and macro perspectives and ruling intellectual, philosophical and educational orientation) and process factors (with 3 sub-categories of periodic monitoring of school performance by local stakeholders, alignment and adaptation of educational content with need of society and education in the field of environmental issues). Also, the findings showed that the effective strategies on the link between school and society had 9 sub-categories in 3 sub-categories and 1 main category including strategies of link school and society (with 3 sub-categories of appropriate governance of educational system, re-engineering and refining of educational system structure and policy making in the field attracting civil participation). In addition, the findings showed that the effective consequences on the link between school and society had 6 sub-categories in 2 sub-categories and 1 main category including consequences of link school and society (with 2 sub-categories of individual consequences and social consequences). Conclusion: The designed themes network for effective factors, strategies and consequences on the link between school and society in Iran can greatly help education specialists and planners in improving the educational system and harmony with the society.