The aim of this study was to identify the roles of school principals in improving the job performance of teachers in rural schools in Mashhad. The research was applied in terms of its purpose and qualitative in terms of its data collection method and descriptive phenomenology. Its potential participants were the principals and teachers of rural schools in the Tabadkan region of Mashhad in the academic year 1402-1403, who were selected using a purposive snowball sampling method based on theoretical saturation. The data collection tool was semi-structured interviews. In order to analyze the data obtained from the interviews, the open and axial coding method of Strauss and Corbin (1990) was used, and the findings were validated using four Lincoln and Guba judgment criteria. In total, after data analysis, 69 open codes and 7 axial codes were extracted. The results of the analysis showed that the roles of rural school administrators in the Tabadkan region of Mashhad that play a role in improving teacher performance include the role of facilitator, support role, empowerment role, education management role, cultural promoter role, incentive role, and the role of promoting creativity and entrepreneurship.

Keywords