Strategic planning overview and implementation barriers in educational institutions: A comparative analysis of state schools and private schools in Mersin

The main purpose of this thesis is to clarify the perspectives of administrators and teachers on strategic planning and the implementation obstacles encountered in the process in Turkish educational institutions and to reveal whether there is a difference between private education institutions and public education institutions in terms of perspectives and implementation barriers. Strategic planning is the process of developing strategies and approaches that will enable organizations to reach their goals better from where they are, with a future perspective. The design of this process primarily passes through reaching a level of strategic consciousness, making inferences by making correct analyzes with this level of consciousness, and determining the steps that will extend to the future by putting the predictions into the future. Within the scope of this study, strategic planning and strategic management literature has been examined. In addition, the literature on the implementation of strategic planning and management in educational institutions has been reviewed. Two separate scales were prepared to measure the strategic planning perception and the obstacles encountered in strategic planning for the field study to be conducted by examining the researches made on this subject, and the validity and reliability studies of these scales were made. After it was understood that the scales were usable, the data were collected and analyzed through questionnaires prepared by the administrators and teachers working in the public and private schools in Mersin. One of the main findings in Mersin province is that there are significant differences in terms of both strategic planning perception and strategic planning implementation obstacles according to demographic variables. Significant differences were also observed between the perceptions of employees in public and private education institutions. Interpretations regarding these differences are included in the thesis. Keywords: Strategic Planning, Strategic Planning in Educational Institutions, Strategic Planning Perception, Perception of Strategic Planning Implementation Barriers.