Examining social justice leadership behaviors of school principles in socio-economically disadvantaged schools

Today, some factors such as global wars, economic crises and regional conflicts cause local and regional demographic movements in the world. These movements lead to changes in many areas such as employment, educational planning and health services in cities. States that do not take the necessary precautions and make wrong plans for these changes affecting social life may face some disadvantages in social and economic terms. Education, which is one of the areas most affected by these changes affecting human life, can be evaluated with stakeholders such as school, the social and economic environment where the school is located, family and school environment. The aim of this research is to examine the social justice leadership behaviors of school administrators in socio-economically disadvantaged schools according to the perceptions of teachers in terms of variables such as gender, education level, professional seniority, school level and tenure at the school. The research was conducted using an explanatory sequential design from mixed method designs. The study population of this research consists of 4108 teachers working in Bağcılar District of Istanbul Province. The sample of the study consists of 398 teachers working in 54 public schools (12 primary schools, 23 secondary schools, 19 high schools). The study group consists of 9 school administrators (3 primary schools, 3 secondary schools, 3 high schools). In this study, quantitative data were obtained with the Social Justice Leadership Behavior Scale (SJLBS) applied to the participant teachers, while qualitative data were collected with a semi-structured interview form applied to 9 school administrators determined according to the data obtained from SJLBS. In this study, while a significant difference was found between the critical consciousness and support sub-dimensions and the total scores of SJLBS according to gender, no significant difference was found in the stakeholder participation sub-dimension. The total scores of male teachers' school administrators' social justice leadership behavior were higher than those of female teachers in terms of the critical consciousness and support sub-dimensions. The results obtained in terms of the total scores of SJLBS according to the level of education and the critical consciousness, support and participation sub-dimensions revealed that the average scores of teachers with postgraduate education were higher than those with undergraduate education. In addition, a significant difference was obtained between the total SJLBS scores, critical consciousness, support and participation sub-dimensions according to the level of education of the participating teachers. It was determined that teachers with 16 years and above professional seniority showed significant differences in terms of the total SJLBS scores and critical consciousness, support and stakeholder participation sub-dimensions compared to teachers with 1-5 and 6-10 years of seniority. In addition, it was concluded that the total SJLBS scores, critical consciousness, support and stakeholder participation scores were significantly different between teachers with 11-15 years of seniority and participant teachers with 1-5 and 6-10 years of seniority. The stakeholder participation sub-dimension mean score of teachers with 15 years of seniority was higher. A statistically significant difference was obtained between the support sub-dimension scores of the participating teachers according to the school level they worked at. According to the comparison made with the LSD multiple comparison method, a significant difference was obtained between the support sub-dimension scores of teachers working in primary and secondary schools and those working in high schools, and the support sub-dimension mean score of teachers working in primary and secondary schools was higher than that of teachers working in high schools. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the total SJLBS scores and stakeholder participation sub-dimension scores according to the school level in which the participating teachers worked. It was understood that there was no statistically significant difference between the total SJLBS scores, critical consciousness support and stakeholder participation sub-dimension scores according to the length of time the teachers worked at the school they worked. Through the qualitative data of the research, the themes of "understandings related to the concept of social justice", "understandings related to social justice in education", "school conditions", "stakeholder participation", "support" and "difficulties encountered while exhibiting social justice leadership behaviors and solutions" were reached. In addition, 14 subcategories were reached regarding these themes. As a result of the research, it was seen that school administrators who serve as social justice leaders, despite being supported by official institutions, school environment and private companies, which are stakeholders in education, still face various difficulties; they are both successful and have difficulty in including their stakeholders in the management process. In line with the findings obtained from the research, it is recommended that policy makers provide social justice leadership training to school administrators so that they can be pioneers of change and transformation in the schools where they work. Keywords: Justice, social justice, leadership, social justice leadership, social justice leadership in education.