Kadir Beycioglu

Readiness of teachers for change in schools

Theorizing on the role of teacher attitudes in change effectiveness, this study examined the predictive value of context (trust), process (social interaction, participative management and knowledge sharing) and outcome (job satisfaction and workload perception) variables for cognitive, emotional and intentional readiness of teachers for change. The study was designed as predictive correlational study. Data were collected from 1649 elementary teachers. Hierarchical linear regression analysis results indicated that background and context variables are weak predictors of readiness for change (RFC), while job outcome and process variables emerged as stronger predictors of RFC. The central role of job satisfaction and trust in predicting RFC suggests that readiness cannot be limited to times of change; rather, it is closely related to total experiences of teachers on their job. As a result, for a more effective management of teachers’ attitudes towards change leadership needs to hold a broader temporal and contextual understanding rather than demonstrating limited interventions during times of change.

Öğretmen ve Yöneticilerin Öğretmen Liderliğine İlişkin Görüşleri: Bir Karma Yöntem Çalışması

Bu calisma, ilkogretim okullarinda gorev yapan ogretmenlerin sergiledikleri liderlik rollerine iliskin yoneticilerin ve ogretmenlerin algi ve beklentilerinin ne duzeyde oldugunu ortaya cikarabilmeyi amaclamistir.Arastirmada, analiz teknigi olarak hem nicel hem nitel boyutlari iceren karma yontemler kullanilmistir. Nicel boyutta anket teknigi, nitel boyutta ise odak grup gorusmesi teknigi kullanilmistir.Verilerin analizi 721 veri toplama araci ile gerceklestirilmistir. Nitel boyutta 5 odak grup oturumunu iceren yari yapilandirilmis gorusmeler yapilmistir. Okulun gelismesi, mesleki gelisim ve meslektaslarla isbirligi boyutlarinda katilimcilarin cogunlugu okullarinda belirli bir duzeyde ogretmen liderliginin var oldugunu gosteren davranislar sergilendigi sonucunu destekler dogrultuda gorusler ifade etmislerdir. Katilimcilarla gerceklestirilen gorusmelere dayali olarak, ogretmen liderligine iliskin beklentilerinin, algi duzeyine gore yuksek oldugu soylenebilir. Buna gore, nicel olarak elde edilen veriler, nitel olarak elde edilen veriler tarafindan da desteklenmektedir.

The facets of job satisfaction among vice‐principals in elementary schools

Purpose – Literature on vice‐principals that aims to get a better understanding of their roles, role perceptions in school management, and their attitudes towards school management have revealed that the vice‐principalship is one of the least researched and least discussed. The purpose of this paper is to explore the facets of job satisfaction among Turkish vice‐principals.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected via a survey administered to 159 vice‐principals working for elementary schools in a city in the eastern part of Turkey and results were gathered by May 2010. A two‐part survey questionnaire was used to elicit responses from vice‐principals. The instrument consists of 31 items and asks respondents to indicate the extent of their agreement with each of the items on a four‐point Likert scale. In this study items were designed as a five‐point scale. There is a section to collect personal information. It was included together with an item asking for their career orientation.Findings – The re...

Eğitim Yönetiminde Kuramsal Bilginin Üretimine ve Uygulanmasina İlişkin Bir Değerlendirme

Egitim yonetimi, geride biraktigimiz yuzyilin ikinci yarisinda kendi kimligini olusturma surecine girmis ve ayri bir calisma alani olarak degerlendirilmeye baslanmistir. Egitim yonetimi, bu ozgunlesme doneminde cesitli alanlarda gozlenen kuramsal gelismelerden ve bu kuramlarin yonetim alanina yansimalarindan etkilenmistir. Bu calismanin amaci, egitim yonetimi alaninda gorulen kuramsal bilgi uretimi ve uygulama surecine biraz daha yakindan bakmaktir. Bu dogrultuda, kuramsal bilgi elde etmede ve uygulamada gozlenen sorunlari daha iyi anlayabilmek bakimindan, kuram, kuramsal bilgi, kuram-uygulama iliskisi ve egitim yonetimini etkileyen kuramsal donemler kisaca incelenmis, kuramsal bilgi uretimi surecinde karsilasilan yaygin sorunlara deginilmis ve bazi oneriler tartismaya acilmistir.

A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Educational Leadership for Social Justice in Israel and Turkey: Meanings, Actions and Contexts.

Abstract The research compares principals in Israel (Jewish and Arab) and Turkey and how they perceive and practice their role in promoting social justice (SJ) in their schools in order to bridge socioeconomic and pedagogic gaps. It poses three questions: (1) How do Turkish and Israeli SJ leaders make sense of SJ? (2) What do SJ leaders do in both countries similarly and differently? (3) What factors facilitate or hinder the work of SJ in both countries? The qualitative study employed in-depth semi-structured interviews to collect the narratives of 11 school principals in Turkey and Israel. A comparative, holistic analysis was employed to identify the principals’ perceptions and daily practice of SJ in their schools. The principals reported different sociocultural, national and personal trajectories that shaped their perceptions of SJ, and described strategies used to promote SJ in their daily scholastic policies, processes and practices that meet the school stakeholders’ backgrounds and needs.

The Mediating Roles of Internal Context Variables in the Relationship between Distributed Leadership Perceptions and Continuous Change Behaviours of Public School Teachers.

Abstract This study aims at building a theoretical base for continuous change in education and using this base to test the mediating roles of two key contextual variables, knowledge sharing and trust, in the relationship between the distributed leadership perceptions and continuous change behaviours of teachers. Data were collected from 687 public school teachers. The results showed that the combined effect of knowledge sharing and faculty trust in principal mediated the relationship between teachers’ distributed leadership perceptions and continuous change behaviours. The directions of the coefficients of the relationships between the independent variable and the dependent variable suggested that higher distributed leadership perception leads to increased knowledge sharing and trust in principal, which in turn was associated with greater continuous change behaviours. The study showed that school systems have an extensive capacity for self-improvement, even in the absence of a pre-developed change plan.

Understanding Leadership Practices in a Sustainable School Model: A Case from Turkey

Dissatisfaction from the current schooling alternatives has been the basic driver behind the search for an alternative schooling system among parents in Turkey. Being concerned about the quality of available public and private schooling alternatives, a group of parents has initiated an alternative schooling system which is based on different structure, values and goals. The aim of this chapter is to reveal the general features of the so called Another School is Possible (ASIP) movement and the roles and responsibilities of the school principal in creating a sustainable and alternative school system. We used document analysis, observation and interview as sources of data for revealing administrative and academic features of this alternative school system as well as investigating leadership traits and behaviors for accomplishing a sustainable school system. The data suggest that ASIP model is based on four main values including alternative education, democratic management, ecological stance and authentic finance, which guide all administrative, instructional and financial actions at schools. The leadership function is distributed across different constituencies, including the principals, teachers, parents and the students. However, the principal is orchestrating body for realizing a sustained, bottom-up, and successful school model.

Governmental Supports for Students in Turkey: Beneficiary Perspective on the Use of Financial and Social Support in Higher Education

Providing financial and social supports to students is a common policy practice in many countries. Scholarships and basic services (food, accommodation, transportation, free health services etc.) are the most common supports provided to students. Particularly developing countries which follow quantitative growth policies in higher education need more comprehensive student support systems. In developing countries both access to higher education and maintenance of the higher education degrees is a challenging task for students coming from disadvantaged segments of the society. Based on these arguments, this study aimed at revealing the perception of higher education level students about the effectiveness of the supports provided by different public institutions (central governments, municipalities, and their own universities) in their access to higher education, in facilitating their study experience, and in contributing to their employability after their study. This study was designed as a survey study. Financial and social support policies are particularly important for students who attend faculties of education. Large scale studies conducted with pre-service teacher candidates suggest that the students attending these faculties are coming from socio-economically disadvantaged segments of society. Given these contextual characteristics, this study was conducted among faculty of education students. Data from 773 students studying at ten different public universities in Turkey were collected. The results indicated that the students find the role of the public supports as extremely weak in their choices of the field (education) for higher education study and in facilitating their lives during their studies. Besides, the participants indicated a negative perception about the role of public support in their future employability after study. These results show that the utility of the public support system is extremely narrow in impacting the students’ lives in Turkey.

Ethical Technology Use, Policy, and Reactions in Educational Settings

Kadir Beycioglu is a lecturer at Inonu University (Malatya, Turkey). He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Cyber Ethics in Education and co-editor of the INUJFE (Inonu University Journal of the Faculty of Education). He serves as an editorial board member or reviewer for some leading journals such as International Journal of Educational Development, Computers & Education, International Journal of Technoethics, the Qualitative Report, International Journal of Teacher Leadership, International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, and the International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership. He has presented papers at international refereed conferences and published several articles in international and national journals. He has been a referee for international conferences such as i-Conferences/i-Schools, Canadian Association for the Study of Educational Administration, International Conference on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications, and AERA (American Educational Research Association) Conferences. His study topics include educational administration & leadership, educational change, ICT and education, cyber ethics in education, teacher leadership, and school improvement. Market: This premier publication is essential for all academic and research library reference collections. It is a crucial tool for academicians, researchers, and practitioners and is ideal forclassroom use. Kadir Beycioglu (Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey)