Appropriate strategies for honoring the position of teacher from the perspective of Iran's exemplary teachers

The present study has been conducted to investigate the level of teachers' satisfaction with the teachers' commemoration week programs, and with the aim of providing the optimal strategies for honoring the status of teachers. It was a survey study. The research population included all the exemplary teachers (N = 8980) in the academic year 2012 up to 2017. The research sample consisted of 368 teachers of all educational levels throughout the country who were selected through cluster sampling method. To collect the data, a researcher-made questionnaire was used. Its content validity was confirmed through interview and getting the specialists' opinions. The questionnaire's reliability was also checked by computing Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = 94%) which indicated the high internal consistency and reliability of the questionnaire items.
In this study, the mechanisms for selecting the exemplary teachers, the level of satisfaction with these mechanisms, the strengths and weaknesses of the teachers' commemoration week programs, and providing optimal strategies for it have been questioned from the perspective of the exemplary teachers. Findings indicated that the respondents have considered the welfare facilities and career promotion as the most important strengths and the lack of attention to the scientific promotion as the weaknesses of the teachers' commemoration week programs. The exemplary teachers were satisfied with the programs of the teacher's status commemoration headquarters, but their overall evaluation of the programs was average. According to the respondents, the first appropriate strategy could be the appreciation of the exemplary teachers in terms of the scientific promotion dimension. Paying more attention to the welfare facilities and job promotion could be the next appropriate strategies.