A phenomenology study on the administrative problems of vocational high schools from the perspective of administrators and teachers

The main subject of this research includes the administrative problems experienced by teachers and administrators working in vocational high schools. The main research problem of the study determined as: "What are the opinions of the administrators and teachers about the administrative problems of vocational high schools?" Qualitative research method was used in this study in which administrative problems in vocational high schools were studied. The aim of this study is to examine the administrative problems of vocational high schools based on the views of teachers and administrators. In this study, the phenomenology design, which is one of the qualitative research approaches, which is a type of research conducted for the cases encountered in life but for which no in-depth and detailed knowledge and understanding is available, was used. The study group of this research consists of teachers and administrators working in eight vocational high schools, which are thought to be a similar group in terms of experiencing managerial problems in vocational high schools. While determining the study group, criterion sampling technique was used in order to be selected in accordance with the questions prepared for the research and to fulfill the criterion of working actively as a teacher and administrator in the vocational high school determined before in the research. In this study, interview method was used to collect data. The interview method was used in terms of the flexible nature of the questions, the ability to obtain relevant data from the participants, and thus to form valid generalizations. The research form was named as "Interview Form Regarding the Administrative Problems of Vocational High Schools". Ten sub-problems were identified within the scope of this study. These sub-problems are: Problems related to students, problems related to teachers, administrative problems related to communication between student-teacher, teacher-teacher, teacher-administrator, administrative problems related to non-teaching personnel, administrative problems related to internships, administrative problems related to educational social activities, school -Administrative problems related to family-environment, problems related to physical conditions, administrative problems related to financial situations, problems related to senior management. Participants focused on absenteeism, low academic achievement and undesirable behaviors in relation to students. When the opinions of the participants are examined, it is seen that the reasons and results of the academic failure of the students are related to each other. Within the scope of the problems experienced with the teachers, the participants mostly concentrated on the opinion about the disruption of the lesson. In the section of communication problems, it was found that there is a lack of communication between student-teacher and teacher-teacher. The participants mentioned that the assistant personnel are not sufficient in the problems related to personnel other than the teaching personnel, and the existing personnel have difficulties in adapting to the school. In the section of problems related to internships, the participants stated that especially students who do internships are seen as workers.. In addition to these, in particular, it was determined that social activities could not be carried out due to insufficient time for social activities and financial inadequacies cause problems in the supply of tools and equipment. It has been determined that families are quite indifferent to their children regarding the relationship between school and family in school-family-environmental problems. Problems related to physical conditions, lack of laboratories and workshops, old and neglected classrooms, and lack of course materials are among the remarkable findings. Regarding the problems related to the financial situation, the low appropriation from the national education and the insufficient financial resources are among the prominent findings. In the problems related to the top management, dealing with writing and paperwork, the problem of unannounced seminars stemming from national education, and the lack of communication between the provincial-district directorate of national education were identified as prominent findings. KEY WORDS: Administrative Problems, Phenomenology Study, Vocational High School