Determining the reputation of school administrators: A case study

Individuals are perceived positively or negatively according to their position in society and their status. There is also a similar situation for school administrators who have an important place in the education system and individuals are able to perceive, evaluate and create opinions about them. This perception, evaluation and opinions are related to the reputation of the school administrators. The main purpose of this research is to examine the reputation of school administrators in various ways. In the research, the respectability of school administrators was put forward based on the views of school administrators, teachers and parents. The research was conducted in accordance with qualitative research methodology with a multi-case study approach. The study group was determined by the maximum diversity sampling which is one of the purposive sampling methods. Case study was carried out with the participation of 33 teachers, 36 managers and 33 parents in 29 schools in Kastamonu at different levels and at different socio-economic levels. The data of the study were collected with the help of semi-structured interview forms. The data of the study were analyzed with descriptive analysis and content analysis approaches. As a result of the study, it was revealed that almost half of the school administrators considered themselves respectable in the society and the institution they work in, and that more than half of the teachers thought that the school administrators were not respected in the society and that the parents thought that school administrators had a respectable place in the society. School administrators cited the factors that reduce their reputation as financial impossibilities, limited authority, the choice of administrators, interventions in management, personal reasons from the manager, and beliefs about administrators in the public. Teachers, however, have often expressed unfavourable assignments and negative news in the media as the situations that reduce the public reputation of school administrators. Parents often expressed the impact of the media and school failure among the reasons that prevented school administrators from being respected by society. In order to increase their respectability, school administrators made recommendations on improving managerial salaries and the perception of managers in the media, on the dominance of justice and merit in appointments, and on the relations with political circles.