School improvement experiences of school principals working in low socio-economic environments: A narrative inquiry

The purpose of this study is to understand school improvement experiences of school principals working in low socio-economic environments and reveal the perspectives of principals on initiating changes at the school level. To achieve this main purpose, first of all, practices and approaches about school improvement that have been implemented by the principals working in low socio-economic environments were examined. The study group consisted of 25 school principals working in primary, secondary and high schools in the 2020-2021 academic year. Narrative inquiry, a qualitative research design, was used in the research; and data were collected through semi-structured interview forms. Moreover, in the study, school improvement reports, photographs, magazines, strategic plans, videos, and notes were taken and utilized as data sources. In the study, generally, it was tried to examine what the school principals in low socioeconomic environments could and/or could not do to reach the determined school improvement goals despite the limited opportunities in their schools. The findings of the research were grouped under 13 themes. According to the findings of the study, it was revealed that school principals mainly defined the concept of school improvement as being beneficent for society and achieving school goals. Participants stated that an improving school should have a quality that can bring social values and create an institutional structure. In the study, it was observed that school principals focused on being in the ideal of raising good people, providing physical development, making organizational progress, preventing absenteeism, and increasing academic achievement. It was understood that the biggest data source of the participants was the feedbacks. Financial inadequacy related to problems in school improvement process was frequently emphasized. Based on the research results, some recommendations were made.