Exploring the Dimensions and Components of Educational Governance Affecting Adolescent Identity Formation: A Qualitative Study Using Thematic Analysis

Abstract

Objective:  This study aimed to explore the dimensions and components of educational governance that influence adolescent identity formation.

Methods and Materials: This qualitative study was conducted in Alborz Province using thematic analysis based on Braun and Clarke’s six-phase framework. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 22 participants representing three key levels of the educational governance system: family, school, and policymaking. Participants were selected to provide diverse perspectives on the mechanisms through which educational governance shapes adolescents’ identity development. The interview data were analyzed through six systematic phases: familiarization with the data, generation of initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the final report. The analysis focused on identifying interconnected structural, procedural, and value-cultural mechanisms affecting adolescent identity formation.

Findings: The thematic analysis yielded three overarching dimensions that collectively constituted the central theme of the “educational governance network gap.” The structural dimension encompassed excessive centralization, implementation gaps, weaknesses in monitoring and evaluation, project-based and episodic approaches, ambiguity in institutional missions, and instability at middle-management levels. The procedural dimension included inter-institutional conflicts in education, poor coordination within the educational network, exclusion of adolescents from participatory processes, educational inconsistency, mutual blame and avoidance of responsibility, and ceremonial or slogan-based programs. The value-cultural dimension comprised an excessive emphasis on academic achievement and university entrance examinations, generational gaps and conflicts between traditional and modern values, globalization and the dominance of digital culture, declining social capital and institutional trust, structural vulnerabilities within families, and contextual diversity in Alborz Province. These dimensions were interrelated and jointly influenced adolescents’ opportunities for coherent identity formation.

Conclusion: Effective educational governance for adolescent identity formation requires simultaneous attention to structural, procedural, and value-cultural dimensions and a transition from centralized, fragmented, and directive governance toward a network-based, participatory, accountable, and identity-oriented model.