Schools profile for disadvantageous students and social justice practices applied in schools to mitigate the impact of disadvantageousness on these students

This work aims to examine the disadvantageous student profile in schools, the impact of disadvantageousness on students, social justice practices applied and implemented in schools to address this impact, and the scope, effectiveness, and potential success for these practices. The study was conducted using qualitative research methods with a phenomenological design. In addition, the research was carried out among 19 school administrators, 33 teachers, and 26 students from ten schools in the Kepez district of Antalya province. Also, research data were obtained through semi-structured interviews and analysed by using content analysis method in MAXQDA 2020 qualitative data analysis software. Based on the research findings, disadvantageous students have been identified from various perspectives based on familial, individual, environmental, and socio-cultural characteristics in schools. Furthermore, schools utilize documents/forms and interaction-based methods for identifying disadvantageous students. Disadvantageousness creates multiple effects on students academically, socially, psychologically, behaviourally, physically, and in other aspects. To mitigate or eliminate the effects of educational disadvantageousness on the students, various practices are carried out in schools to support students in self-realization, improvement, resource provision and distribution, equal opportunities, and creating a supportive school environment. It was identified that a wide range of diverse practices is applied under the category of "other," considering the nature of the practice, student, school and environmental characteristics, positive discrimination, inclusivity, and various elements under other categories. Moreover, it was observed that these implemented practices contribute positively to disadvantageous students in terms of academic, social, and psychological aspects. However, it was noted that despite of the efforts made in schools to reduce or eliminate the effects of disadvantageousness on students, numerous obstacles are encountered under various categories such as school, parental involvement, communication, staff, students, environment, and other factors. Hence, it is observed that reaching completely all disadvantageous students remains challenging. Although various practices are carried out in schools to reduce/eliminate the effects of disadvantage on students, it has been determined that various practices are still needed. It was concluded that despite of the various practices applied in schools to reduce the effects of disadvantage on students, there is still a need for various practices focusing on school-family-community collaboration, student development, social justice practices, school resources, education system, school structure, improving legislation, human resources in schools, and facilitating operations. Therefore, it is necessary to develop more permanent, inclusive, effective, and sustainable policies in schools to support disadvantageous students.