Providing A Model for Promotion of the Vice-Principals’ Role to Educational Leadership in Primary Schools of Mazandaran Province

Purpose: This study is to provide a model that will promote the role of primary school vice-principals in educational leadership so that their vice-principals move towards the tasks related to education. Methodology: The sample size consisted of 610 principals, vice-principals and teachers, determined by a two-step classification procedure. In this research, Mazandaran Province was divided into three eastern, central and western parts; some cities were selected from each part and then these cities were divided into two or three sections. A number of schools were randomly selected in each section and all principals, vice-principals and teachers were selected as the sample. A two-part questionnaire was used to collect information from vice-principals’ duties. The first part consists of closed questions in two existing and ideal conditions, and the second part includes open questions. Findings: Friedman's ranking and analysis, categorization and quantification of open questions revealed the following components for the vice-principals’ educational leadership model: 1-Creating awareness among principals, vice-principals and teachers about the vice-principals’ duties 2-Preparation of tasks description with the focus of educational affairs and the requirement for its implementation 3-Procurement of short-term university courses and vice-principals’ pre-office training 4-Informing vice-principals about the educational regulations at the national and regional levels 5-Encourage the principals and vice-principals to lead a team and provide the requirement trainings in this field 6-Considering an individual to assist the vice-principals of the school 7-Improving the vice-principals’ livelihoods . Discussion: Applying this model and its components can enhance the vice-principals’ performance and role to a higher level and ultimately improve the performance of schools and the Iranian educational system.