The roles of student affairs assistants in secondary schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from the point of view of general school leadership supervisors

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the perceptions of general school leadership supervisors about the roles of student affairs assistants in secondary schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to determine the requirements for activating those roles. To achieve these objectives, the interpretative approach, which belongs to the qualitative research, has been employed. Data was collected through individual semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample consisting of all general leadership supervisors at the Ministry of Education (ten in total). The results indicated that the roles of student affairs assistants can be described under four main categories, which are the administrative role, the academic role, student counseling tasks, and student activities tasks. The study also revealed that there are many requirements for activating the roles of student affairs assistants, classified into three areas: the organizational, personal, and professional requirements. In light of the research results, a number of recommendations have been developed including the need to clarify the roles of the student affairs assistants, and the roles associated with it, the need to pass a special program for preparing student affairs assistants