Designing a Vocational Education Management Model in the Marginalized Areas of Tehran

Abstract

The present study aimed to design a vocational education management model for the marginalized areas of Tehran by identifying its causal conditions, contextual factors, intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences. This applied-developmental study employed a qualitative methodology based on the grounded theory paradigm and an interpretive approach. The research population consisted of relevant policy documents and 20 experts, educational managers, and staff members working in marginalized areas of Tehran. Participants were selected through purposive sampling until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using MAXQDA software through open, axial, and selective coding procedures. The credibility of findings was ensured through expert review, data triangulation, and coding verification, while reliability was confirmed using the Holsti coefficient and trustworthiness criteria. The findings revealed that the vocational education management model comprises six major dimensions. Causal conditions included structural and multidimensional poverty, economic instability of families, dysfunction of formal education, educational inequality, and the disconnection between schools and the lived realities of marginalized communities. The core phenomenon was vocational education as an alternative pathway to academic success, rebuilding motivation, and fostering vocational identity. Contextual conditions encompassed school human capital, management style, socio-economic environment, and resource sustainability. Intervening conditions included credentialism, educational policy quality, institutional erosion of human resources, and implementation fragility. Key strategies consisted of social participation, human-centered management, program flexibility, localization of vocational training, and compensatory school interventions. The implementation of these strategies was associated with reduced dropout rates, increased motivation and hope, enhanced employability, decreased social harms, strengthened social capital, and the restoration of social trust. Vocational education management in marginalized areas represents more than an educational intervention; it functions as a social empowerment strategy that reconstructs the relationship between schools and local communities, promotes educational equity, strengthens social capital, and improves students’ future occupational and social opportunities.