The analysis of female school administrators' opinions about mobbing in school settings

The aim of this study is to determine the opinions of women working as administrative staff in educational institutions about the phenomenon of mobbing to conduct a detailed investigation and to develop a detailed understanding of mobbing behaviors, their parties and processes. It was designed according to the phenomenology approach among the qualitative research methods and the semi-structured interview protocol was used to collect data. The participants of the study were 20 female school administrators working in Şahinbey and İslâhiye districts of Gaziantep province in 2016-2017 educational year. The data obtained from face-to-face interviews were subjected to content analysis method. According to the research results; women school administrators, who regarded mobbing as a basic component of their working life, interpreted their experiences on a gender-based perspective to a great extent. The participants were mostly exposed to the intimidation of males in superior positions and pointed to the various characteristics of the perpetrators, contextual clues and cultural norms. It was also concluded that formal or informal struggle and social support were the key factors in coping with mobbing. For the prevention of bullying, the psychological empowerment of the individual, preventive regulations and developmental practices were highlighted by the participants. The study was concluded by offering some implications after the discussion of research results.