Research on the viewpoints of secondary education institution managers regarding the implementations of the school council during the process of forming democratic school culture: Bahçelievler sample

Today democracy is accepted as the most functional regime which at the same time appreciates humans the most. Studies have been made in our country in order to form the democracy culture. School councils form some part of these studies. The state of students' experiencing and being dominant on concepts such as participation, voting, making preferences, etc. on a certain age plays a significant role on forming this culture. The aim of this research is to define the opinions of school managers towards school council implementations and develop suggestions for the school councils to function more efficiently. During this study, scanning method, which is one of the research methods, has been used. Among the scanning methods, the general scanning method has been preferred. Bahcelievler District of the town of Istanbul forms the population of the research, and the managers who have worked in the secondary education instutituons in Bahçelievler during the 2014-2015 academic year form the sample of it. In order to collect the data of the research, firstly, the surveys and scales that had been prepared in advance were sent to all the secondary education instutituons within Bahcelievler. When the data was collected, it was seen that 234 of the surveys had been filled in a proper way as regards the aim of the research. In order to collect the quantitative data during the study, "School Council Implementation Scale" which had been authentically prepared by the researcher by using the data achieved at the end of the relevant field research, was used. In order to determine the suitability of the scale to the aim of the project; the opinions of the lecturers who work in the fields of education management and supervision were made use of. The scale was finalised in accordance with the suggestions given and made ready for implementation. At the end of the study, "School Council Implementation" scale points have been investigated and no significant difference has been noticed among the levels of gender, post, seniority, manager seniority and education. Most of the participants have ticked up the alternatives of "I totally agree" and "I mostly agree" for the statement of "The school council and its administors can learn new ideas from students." It is important to produce new ideas and use them. A great deal of the participants have ticked up the alternative of "I mostly agree" for the statement of "Occasionally problems arise during the implementation as the administors, parents and students do not have sufficient information regarding the school council." It is seen that sometimes problems arise during the implementation as the administors, parents and students do not have sufficient information regarding the school council. In this regard, it is believed to be appropriate that school managers organise seminars for the teachers, administors and parents regarding the school council. The school council should be made effective during the school council decision-making process. Keywords: Democracy, School Council, Manager, Participation, Student