Professional Practices of School Principals based on Palestinian Standards during the Corona Pandemic from Their Point of View and Their Development Compared to Japanese Professional Practices

Abstract

The study aimed to identify school principals' professional, practices and trends ‎in Palestine in light of Palestinian professional standards during the Corona pandemic, as well as school principals' professional practices in light of Japanese professional standards during ‎ the Corona pandemic. The study also aimed to propose ideas for enhancing professional standards for school principals ‎ in Palestine in light of international best practices, utilizing Japan's experience during the Corona pandemic.The problem of the reaserch iscoronavirus pandemicin term of education which makes it necessary to improve the standards of public school principals in Palestine ‎. The researcher used a qualitative and historical approach. The study community included all principals ‎of public ‎ schools ‎ in Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate ‎ who were officially registered in the Ministry of Education's records for the academic year 2020/2021their numbers are 218. The study sampled and surveyed 40 principals of public schools in Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate. The study instrument was an interview with them.

The first question examined school principals', practices ‎in light of Palestinian professional standards during the Corona pandemic. The results showed that some of these professional, practices increased while others decreased or stayed constant. The second question investigated the professional practices of school principals ‎ in comparison to Japanese professional standards during the Corona pandemic. The results indicated that while some of these professional practices have evolved during the Corona pandemic, others have stayed stable. This was because the decentralization strategy gave principals considerable discretion and the infrastructure provided the electronic platforms necessary for online education and improved performance during the Corona pandemic. ‏The results indicated that Japanese principals utilized a variety of options to effectively manage a potentially risky educational circumstance. Moreover, throughout the Corona crisis, Japanese principals developed a close relationship with the societal backdrop, which enabled them to build bridges of confidence and collaboration. The third question considered how to improve principals' professional practices and understanding in light of international practices, especially Japan's experience during the Corona pandemic. The findings indicated that Palestinian principals' powers should be expanded and that their work should be decentralized, as well as the importance of increasing their awareness of the public education system, its national philosophy, and community contexts in order to fortify social networking and build bridges of trust during times of crisis. ‎

The study concluded with a number of noteworthy recommendations. The special recommendations included the need to expand professional standards for managing educational situations during times of crisis in Palestine, the need to enhance the current professional standards of the principals, as well as the need to add new professional standards of the broader societal context and networking during times of crisis. Among the general recommendations was the need for further research based on relevant Finnish experience. The study advocated developing a robust infrastructure that would support education amid crises by offering free online services to underprivileged families and by establishing online platforms to assist school principals‎ with their administrative tasks.