Administrative Empowerment Degree and its Relation to School Discipline Among Government School Principals in Directorates of Education in (the Northern Governorates) in Palestine from the School Principals' Perspective

Abstract

The study aimed to find out the degree of administrative empowerment and its relationship with school discipline among the principals of government schools in the directorates of education in the (Northern Governorates) of Palestine, from the school principals' point of view. The study adopted the descriptive correlative approach, and a simple random sample was chosen that included (319) principals of government schools in the Northern Governorates, who the questionnaire was applied on. The study also included (10) school principals from the study community and outside the sample, with whom an interview was conducted, for the purpose of obtaining qualitative data to enhance the quantitative study results. The results of the study showed that the degree of administrative empowerment among government school principals in the Northern Governorates was high, as indicated by the arithmetic average, which reached (3.81). The results of the interview showed that the most important means granted by the Ministry to principals is the delegation of powers, and the level of school discipline practice was high, as indicated by the arithmetic average, which amounted to (4.22). The results of the interview also showed that the most important pillars of the school discipline process are the clarity and flexibility of laws and instructions related to discipline. The results of the study also showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the average degree of administrative empowerment practice among government school principals according to the variables (gender, school level, educational qualification, years of experience, and school location). The results also indicated a statistically significant positive correlation at the significant level (α≤.05) between the degree of practicing administrative empowerment and the level of practicing school discipline in government schools in the directorates of education in the "Northern Governorates" in Palestine where it reached (.34).