An experimental implementation to develop workplace spirituality in educational organizations

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of the School Spirituality Program (SSP), designed within the framework of workplace spirituality, on teachers' spirituality levels and to determine their opinions regarding this program. In the study, the topic of workplace spirituality was examined and the six-weeks SSP was designed and implemented by the researcher. The study, which employed explanatory sequential design, is a mixed research consisting of qualitative and quantitative methods. The sample is composed of 38 teachers in the experiment (N= 19) and control (N= 19) groups in the city of Şanlıurfa in the academic year 2016-2017. For the collection of quantitative data, the Workplace Spirituality Scale (Özğan, 2017) was used and a semi-structured interview form was prepared to collect qualitative data. The SSP Evaluation Form and six weeks of video recordings of SSP were examined in the analysis to determine the participants' attitudes and perceptions. At the end of the study, it was found that SSP did not display any significant difference in total scale points. Based on the results of dimensions, however, it showed a significant difference in the dimensions of "Transcendence, Meaningful Job," according to pre and post-tests, while not any significant difference in the dimensions of "Self-Perception and Organizational Values" was reported. Qualitative discussions on the results and effectiveness of the SSP revealed that SSP had a positive impact on the participants within the themes of "Life, School Relations, Self-Identity, Goals, and Meaning." Participants noted that the SSP was useful; its activities gave a new meaning to their work, increased their spiritual awareness, got them into deeper acquaintance with spiritual phenomena, and helped them earn integrity of purpose and true meaning in their school work and relationships. The study findings also include comparative analyses of the quantitative and qualitative data of the participants, the results of the SSP evaluation form and video recordings, the reasons for participants to recommend SSP, and the suggestions and definitions for the program.