Identifying Implementation Gaps in the Processes of Executing Policies Related to Students' Rights in Schools

Abstract

This study aimed to identify and explain implementation gaps and the factors affecting the execution of policies related to students’ rights and the realization of the Student Rights Charter in schools in Kermanshah Province. This study employed a mixed-methods approach using a sequential exploratory design in which a qualitative phase was followed by a quantitative phase. In the qualitative phase, descriptive phenomenology was used, and 28 key stakeholders, including school principals, teachers, education experts, and students, were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and examined using systematic content analysis. In the quantitative phase, data were obtained from 384 principals, teachers, and students in Kermanshah selected through stratified random sampling. A researcher-developed five-point Likert questionnaire was used for data collection. Face and content validity were assessed, and reliability was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha. Inferential analyses included one-way analysis of variance, Tukey’s post-hoc test, multiple linear regression, and Pearson correlation analysis. One-way ANOVA revealed a statistically significant difference among principals, teachers, and students in their perceptions of the realization of students’ rights (F=12.45, p=.001). Tukey’s post-hoc analysis indicated that principals reported the highest level of rights realization, whereas students reported the lowest, demonstrating a substantial perceptual gap between administrative evaluations and students’ experiences. The multiple regression model explained 64% of the variance in the realization of students’ rights (R²=.64). Cultural-attitudinal barriers emerged as the strongest adverse predictor (β=.42, p=.001), followed by structural-policy barriers (β=.31, p=.001) and managerial-supervisory barriers (β=.21, p=.032). Resource and infrastructure barriers did not have a statistically significant predictive effect (β=.08, p=.261). Furthermore, cultural-attitudinal and managerial-supervisory barriers were positively and significantly correlated (r=.58). The findings indicate that implementation gaps in students’ rights are associated more strongly with authoritarian attitudes, controlling organizational structures, and inadequate supervisory mechanisms than with resource limitations. Transforming school organizational culture, shifting from controlling to facilitative management, empowering educational personnel, and establishing independent monitoring mechanisms may therefore facilitate more effective realization of students’ rights.