The naturalist approach among future educational leaders: an Israeli case study

This study aims to elucidate the learning aspects of the naturalist approach through
meaningful learning. Fifty participants, who were enrolled in a BA programme in leadership
and management for teacher trainees in Israel, were encouraged to research a question
on a topic that interested them in educational leadership. The analysis was based on
the qualitative approach. The data analysis followed a three-step process: open coding,
axial coding and selective coding. The data were organized using ATLAS.ti 5.0. The findings
indicated that most of the questions revolved around a four-dimensional model that
included ‘student in the centre’, ‘school social aspects’, ‘school discipline’ and ‘effective
learning’. These dimensions included topics that were taught explicitly or implicitly in the
‘Introduction to educational leadership and administration’ course. However, these dimensions
also included topics that had not been taught during the introductory course and
were of interest to the participants as a result of the unique Israeli context. The present
paper proposes some ideas as to how to bridge the gap between what students perceive as
interesting and what experienced faculty perceive as important, given the time constraints
of the introduction course.