Designing a Mentoring Model for School Principals in the Education System

Abstract

The present study aimed to conceptualize the mentoring process of school principals and develop a grounded model based on participants’ lived experiences. This applied qualitative study was conducted using a grounded theory approach. Participants included school principals, deputies, educational experts, and experienced mentors selected through purposive and theoretical sampling. Data were collected via 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews and continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data analysis was conducted concurrently through open, axial, and selective coding. A total of 120 initial concepts were identified during open coding and subsequently organized into 43 axial categories. Finally, a paradigmatic model including causal conditions, contextual conditions, intervening factors, strategies, and consequences was developed. The findings indicated that mentoring of school principals is a multidimensional, interactive, and transformative process shaped by factors such as the need for guidance, experience-based learning, mutual trust, and supportive structures. Strategies such as reflective feedback, reciprocal learning, supportive mentoring, and learning from errors play a critical role in its effectiveness. Intervening conditions including cultural resistance, lack of reward systems, and absence of formal structures may either facilitate or hinder the process. Ultimately, mentoring leads to outcomes such as professional growth, managerial self-efficacy, resilience, and improvement in organizational culture. Mentoring, as a developmental, relational, and experience-based mechanism, can significantly enhance the professional capabilities of school principals, and implementing a localized mentoring model can improve the overall quality of educational leadership.