A Qualitative Investigation on the Views of School Principals and Teachers about Organizational Justice in Evaluation Process

Evaluation which is an important factor during the development of teaching-learning process is providing students a quality education while it offers teachers the opportunity of improving themselves. The fairness of the evaluation that affects these two process significantly increases organizational efficiency like organizational productivity, organizational commitment and job satisfaction. In this study, administrators' and teachers’ perceptions related to organizational justice in evaluation process in Aydın Anatolian High Schools were examined. The research was designed as a qualitative study and has been performed through interviews. The data were gathered from 7 administrators and 14 teachers by semi structured interview method. Six questions were asked to administrators related to organizational justice in evaluation process. Content and descriptive analysis techniques were used to analyze the data. According to findings, school administrators perceive the concept of organizational justice in evaluation process as “giving employees what they deserve in the organization, being at an equal distance to all, being fair in distribution of courses and behaving according to the legislation”. The teachers at Anatolian high schools define the justice as “equality, fairness, valuing according to efforts and quality of teachers”. The administrators emphasize that they are fair regarding the distribution of the courses. However, it is referred from the research that administrators are not fair with teachers from the point of distributive justice in evaluation process. It is seen that the perception of teachers related to the organizational justice is not as totally fair. The common point that both administrators and teachers have is necessity of the standard criteria in evaluation process

Educational Leadership and its Impact on Life in Schools: A Critical Interpretation

In this critical hermeneutical study, the historical and current literature in educational leadership was systematically investigated. The epistemological, methodological, and ideological issues in the theoretical history were analyzed to determine their impact on the development of educational leadership as a field of study. Two literature reviews were conducted to demonstrate how the field conceptualized its impact on life in schools. These literature reviews also allowed for a connection of the present state of the field to its historical foundation. The current ideologies driving the field of educational leadership were examined within the epistemological and methodological foci of the literature. It was found that the ideological history of the field, based in scientific management and efficiency, has manifested itself in the current accountability polices and impacted what counts as knowledge in the current research done in educational leadership

Distributed Leadership: A Review of Literature

A review of empirical research studies of distributed leadership from public and private sector settings completed since 1995

Organizational and environmental contexts affecting school principals' distributed leadership practices

The aim of this study is to determine the organizational and environmental contexts that affect the distributed leadership behaviours of school principals working in primary schools in Turkey. A phenomenological research approach has been adopted and data was collected via semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 primary school principals. Maximum variation sampling strategy is used in recruiting participants and the collected data was analysed using content analysis. The results suggested that legislations, school culture, parents’ and students’ culture, national culture, and centralized and bureaucratic structure affect the attitude school principals distribute the leadership in schools. School principals generally do not want to share leadership with teachers or parents. While the justification about teachers is based on their reluctance to take responsibility or the negative competition between them, the justification for parents is based on the potential of parents' leadership to be a threat towards social justice at school. In addition, the law puts more responsibility on school principals, pushing them to become the leader of the school. However, school principals do not have as much authority as responsibility at schools. Thus, the hierarchical structure that intensifies the power in the center will provide more effective control over the school

Community Context: Influence and Implications for School Leadership Preparation

Effective K-12 leaders remain a central concern for schools and communities of all types. The purpose of this research is to examine critically the literature on issues facing leaders in rural and urban settings and present a synthesis of cross-cutting themes. The authors reviewed the theoretical and empirical literature on K-12 leadership issues in rural settings and in urban settings published between 2013-2018 in ten journals. An examination of the similarities and differences facing leaders in these settings in the United States and a discussion of the implications for leadership preparation programs is provided. Future research directions to guide the study of K-12 leadership are also discussed

Investigation of articles on leadership and school management in turkey

The aim of this qualitative study is to analyse the content of randomly selected articles on leadership and school management published in scientific journals in Turkey, and to determine the descriptive characteristics, main and sub-dimensions, and general trends of those articles. For this purpose, the “leadership” and “school management” directories were scanned in Google Academy. The samples comprised randomly selected 30 articles that were published between the years of 2015-2021. The content analysis of these 30 articles was based on main and sub-themes. The results revealed that when the main themes of articles about leadership were examined, the subject of pedagogical leadership, effective leadership and rotational leadership were discussed more than other articles. In addition, in the articles related to school management, it was observed that organizational silence and favouritism emerged. These main themes created some negative sub-themes, such as fear, anxiety, anxiety, and lack of confidence and alienation of staff. In that case, it was observed that teachers were also influenced by their self-sufficiency perceptions

Synthesizing Middle Grades Research on Cultural Responsiveness: The Importance of a Shared Conceptual Framework

In conducting a literature review of 133 articles on cultural responsiveness in middle level education, we identified a lack of shared definitions, theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and foci, which made it impossible to synthesize across articles. Using a conceptual framework that required: 1) clear definitions of terms; 2) a critically conscious stance; and 3) inclusion of the middle school concept, we identified 14 articles that met these criteria. We then mapped differences and convergences across these studies, which allowed us to identify the conceptual gaps that the field must address in order to have common definitions and understandings that enable synthesis across studies

Ambivalence toward bureaucracy: Responses from Korean school principals

Purpose – Given the context of accountability-driven policy environments, research has shown that school leaders perceive bureaucratic rules and protocols in negative ways, but they also utilize organizational structures and routines to lead changes. To better understand both enabling and hindering mechanisms of bureaucracy in schools, this study explores how Korean school principals understand and perceive bureaucratic structures using a lens of ambivalence. The authors draw on Weber’s theory of bureaucracy, with a particular focus on the paradoxical aspect of bureaucracy that might be experienced by individuals within the system. Design/methodology/approach – This study analyzed qualitative data collected from 26 in-depth interviews with 10 Korean school principals between 2013 and 2015. The authors used the multiple cycles of coding to explore patterns and themes that emerged from the participants’ responses. Findings – The analysis of this study showed that the participants’ ambivalent responses toward bureaucracy were particularly salient in three areas where formal organizational structures were changing through policy initiatives: teacher evaluation, electronic approval system and school-based management promoting decentralized decision making. The study participants reflected on how such changes can enable and/or hinder schools to achieve organizational goals and collective values, from the viewpoints of multiple aspects, which led to their ambivalent responses to bureaucratic structures in school settings. Originality/value – This study contributes to the understanding of school organizations by revisiting Weber’s theory of bureaucracy in school settings. Using the lens of ambivalence enabled us to reconcile school principals’ contradictory perceptions toward bureaucracy, which complicates analyses of tensions and paradoxical responses found in leadership practices within school systems

A Qualitative Case Study of Principal Supervisors’ Perceptions of Equity-Based Instructional Leadership

Principal supervisors play a critical role in supporting school principals. However, historically, principal supervisors were ill prepared to address these challenges at either the district or school level. Since 2011, the role of the principal supervisors has been reexamined to provide better outcomes for students and increased support for principals. The development of equity-based instructional leadership practices was identified and therefore added to the tools focused on developing transformative, race-conscious, and culturally responsive educational leadership. The problem explored in this qualitative study is that little research has focused on the perceptions of principal supervisors to improve equitable practices in schools that may result in equitable teaching and learning. This case study used a semi-structured interview format to examine the perceptions of principal supervisors about the standards for equity-based instructional leadership that may result in equitable teaching and learning. The researcher also examined potential differences in the perceptions of novice principal supervisors compared to experienced principal supervisors. This study was intended to answer the following research question: How do principal supervisors view the national standards of equity-based instructional leadership and their capacity to promote equitable teaching and learning for all students? After rigorous analysis of the data, which included a priori and emergent coding, findings indicated that principal supervisors have limited prior awareness of but positive perceptions of standards for equity-based instructional leadership, principal supervisors tend to focus on different standards for equity-based instructional leadership, and principal supervisors face both external and internal challenges when enacting standards for equity-based instructional leadership. Future studies might explore time spent by principal supervisors on equity-based instructional leadership, district efforts to increase time spent on equity-based instructional leadership, and professional development needs of principal supervisors to support the implementation of standards for equity-based instructional leadership