Examining the strategic planning practices of kindergartens within the context of school principals' strategic leadership

The purpose of this study is to examine the opinions of kindergarten teachers on strategic leadership characteristics of their school principals and strategic planning practices at their schools and the relationship between strategic leadership characteristics of their school principals and strategic planning practices at their schools. The sample of the study consists of 318 kindergarten teachers working at central districts of Gaziantep province. Data of the study were collected through scales related to the strategic leadership and strategic planning practices at schools. One-Way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Tukey HSD multiple comparison test and Tamhane T2 test were conducted to examine the opinions of kindergarten teachers on strategic leadership characteristics of their school principals and strategic planning practices at their schools according to seniority and length of service with school principals variables. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between strategic leadership characteristics and strategic planning practices and linear regression analysis was performed with the purpose of determining the predictive power of strategic leadership for strategic planning practices. As a result of the study, it is found that the opinions of kindergarten teachers on strategic leadership and strategic planning practices differ according to seniority and length of service with school principal variables. There is a significant relationship between strategic leadership and strategic planning practices and strategic leadership is a significant predictor of strategic planning practices. It is concluded that strategic leadership is an important factor in terms of success of strategic planning practices. Based on the findings of the study, it is suggested that characteristics of school and school environment should be taken into consideration in the process of strategic planning and school principals should give more importance to social networking as part of their strategic leadership. Keywords: Strategic Leadership, Strategic Planning, Kindergartens