Knowledge management process competencies of school managers

The aim of this research is to reveal the level of knowledge management process competencies of school managers working in Aydın province, Efeler district. Singular and relational scanning models were used in the study, which was designed in the scanning model. The research group consists of teachers working in public primary and secondary schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the Efeler district of Aydın in 2021-2022 academic year. In the research, sampling was carried out to represent the universe. Stratified sampling method was used in the research. The sample of the study consists of 294 teachers randomly selected from among the teachers working in public primary and secondary schools in Aydın province, Efeler district. The data on the Knowledge Management Process Competencies of the School Managers, were collected using the "School Managers Knowledge Management Process Competencies Scale" (OMBYSYÖ), which was developed by Betül BARKAR (2012) after obtaining the necessary permissions. "School Managers Knowledge Management Process Competencies Scale" (OMBYSYÖ) consists of two parts: "Personal Information" and "School Managers Knowledge Management Process Competencies Scale". OMBYSYÖ consists of 56 questions. OMBYSYÖ is a five-point Likert-type scale in accordance with a Likert-type rating; It is graded as "Never:1, Rarely:2, Sometimes:3, Often:4 and Always:5". The scale is divided into five sub-dimensions: "Creating Knowledge", "Acquiring Knowledge", "Storing and Protecting Knowledge", "Sharing Knowledge", "Using and Evaluating Knowledge". SPSS (Statistical Package Program for Social Sciences) program was used to analyse the data. The normality and reliability tests of the scale, which was filled online via 'Google Form', were performed and the data was extracted. Frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, Shapiro-Wilk, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Whitney U, Wilcoxon W, Kruskal Wallis H, Chi-Square tests were used to analyse the data of the whole scale and sub-dimensions. As a result of the research, although the results of the rating scale made in all sub-dimensions of the knowledge management process competencies of the school managers working in the Efeler district of Aydın were at the frequency level of 'Always', when the results were examined in detail, it was seen that the data obtained in all dimensions were at the lowest limit of the frequency level of 'Always'. The questions with the highest and lowest scores in all sub-dimensions were analysed. The areas and dimensions that 294 teachers who filled out the scale considered their managers sufficient are as follows; In the dimension of 'Creating Knowledge', "The school managers appreciates teachers who generate new ideas that contribute to the improvement of the school." In the dimension of 'Acquiring Knowledge', "They follows what kind of practices other schools do in education."; In terms of dimension of 'Storing and Protecting Knowledge', "It ensures that the minutes of every meeting held within the school are kept."; In the dimension of 'Sharing Knowledge', "When necessary, they prefer to use the telephone to inform us about the practices in the school."; In the dimension of using and 'Evaluating Knowledge', "When evaluating the quality and success of school practices, they consider the school's purpose and vision." The areas and dimensions that 294 teachers who filled out the scale consider their principals to be more inadequate are as follows: In the dimension of 'Knowledge Creation', "He uses the school's past registration documents in order to develop new ideas that he can use on educational-instructional and administrative issues." In the dimension of 'Acquiring Knowledge', "Obtains information about different ideas and practices by following educational publications." In the dimension of 'Storage and Protection of Knowledge', "He keeps the ideas and requests from the school environment and parents by taking notes." In the dimension of 'Sharing Knowledge', "He asks us to report the information we have about the past practices of the school so that the new teachers can read it." In the dimension of 'Using and Evaluating Knowledge', "It organizes evaluation meetings where school rules and practices are questioned, and critical ideas are put forward." It has been determined that there is no significant difference between the results of the evaluations of the teachers working in the schools in Aydın, Efeler district, between their gender, age and tenure. It was found that there was no significant difference between the evaluations of the School Managers, except for the sub-dimension of Knowledge Management Process Competencies, "Storing and Protecting Knowledge ", and their length of service. Teachers with six to ten years of service find their school managers' competencies in the " Storing and Protecting Knowledge " sub-dimension more inadequate when compared to teachers who work for other years. It has been found that there is a significant difference between the sub-dimensions of Knowledge Management Process competencies of the principals, namely "Storing and Protecting Knowledge ", "Sharing Knowledge", "Using and Evaluation Knowledge" and the average sum of all dimensions and educational status. In these sub-dimensions, teachers with postgraduate degrees find that school managers' knowledge management process competencies are more inadequate. There is no significant difference in the dimensions of "Creating Knowledge" and "Acquiring Knowledge". At the end of our research, awareness raising studies, training, projects and courses should be carried out in all educational institutions about Information Management Processes; keeping the school's website up-to-date and employing staff only for social media and website content; Supporting school technology infrastructures in information storage and use; Sharing information with other institutions, organizations and private sector representatives experienced in this field; increasing the availability of information; creating free environments where teachers in schools can easily obtain information and use this information are recommended.