Study of school development activities conducted by primary school administrators (Kastamonu province sample)

This study has been carried out for the purpose of analyzing the contributions of school administrators to school development activities with the help of the opinion of teachers working at official primary schools with regards to this subject. The samples of this study are constituted of the 337 primary school teachers at 36 primary schools in the central district of the province of Kastamonu during the 2nd semester of the 2008-2009 academic year. In the collection of the data pertaining to the study, a data collection instrument consisting of two sections has been developed. In the first section there are personal details for the purpose of determining the demographic variables of teachers constituting the study sample and in the second section there is a school development scale with the purpose of determining the contributions of official primary school administrators to the school development activities. Domestic and foreign literature has been scanned and the opinions of experts have been consulted to in order to develop the `school development scale?. A pilot application has been performed by implementing the Likert Scale consisting of 52 articles on 50 persons. The statistical analyses of data obtained through data collection instruments have been performed by conveying them to the SPSS 15.0 (Statistical Package for Social Science). Frequency, percentage, arithmetical average, t- test and variance analyses have been used in the analysis of the data. According to the findings of the study,It has been observed that teachers working at primary schools, who are over the age of 51, have a more positive opinion compared to that of younger teachers on the contributions of the school administration to school development activities. No significant difference was determined between the opinions on the leadership of the school administration according to the age variable however a significant difference was determined between opinions on the administration of physical resources, human resources, information and technology equipment and relations with the local public.It has been observed that class teachers had more positive opinions in contrast to branch teachers. No significant difference was determined between opinions on the contribution of the school administration to school development activities according to the branch variable of the teachers.It has been determined that teachers with a seniority of 21-30 years had a more positive opinion than those with different seniorities. No significant difference has been determined between the seniority of teachers and opinions on the leadership of the school administration and the management of human resources but a significant difference has been determined between opinions on the administration of physical resources, information and technological equipment and relations with the local public.It has been determined that the opinions of teachers working at their current school for a period between 11-15 years were more positive compared to those of other teachers. No significant difference has been determined between the opinions of teachers according to this variable.It has been determined that the opinions of teachers, who had previously received training on school development activities, were more positive. However, no significant difference has been determined between the opinions of teachers according to this variable.It was observed that teachers educated at universities had a more positive opinion in terms of leadership and relations with the local public, teachers trained at the school they work in had a more positive opinion in terms of the administration of human resources and information-technological equipment, and teachers trained through in-service training of the Ministry of National Education had a more positive opinion in terms of the administration of physical resources.Keywords: School development, leadership, physical resources, human resources, information and technological equipment, relations with the local public.