Researching educational problems of seasonal agricultural workers' secondary school children sociologically

Seasonal agricultural workship is one of the work style prefered as a source of income by the landless families living especially in the countryside of the South Eastern Anatolian Region and the families having a low socio-economic level in the cities in Turkey. It is known that some families living in the certain areas of Adıyaman which is our research field work in the seasonal agricultural works and immigrate with their children on the work seasons. The aim of this study is to reveal the effects of the seasonal agricultural workship firstly on the education of the secondary school children and on their physical, psychological and social developments. A lot of families working as seasonal agricultural workers live in Adıyaman and the education of these families' children is hindered on the time of the seasonal agricultural works. Because a great deal of seasonal agricultural works come across in autumn and spring when the school is open. As a result of the interview done with Adıyaman Directorate of National Education, it is stated by the authorities that there are students migrating to other cities with their families for seasonal agricultural works in some schools ; however, they do not have any scientific study or statistical data about these students' conditions. As a result of the guidance of Adıyaman Directorate of National Education and after getting information from all the secondary schools' managements in Adıyaman Osman Gazi Secondary School, Orhan Gazi Secondary School, 23 Nisan Secondary School, Zeynep Turgut Secondary School, Malazgirt Secondary School and Mimar Sinan Secondary School were chosen as our studying field. Our questionnaire was conducted on 600 students and an evaluation scale was conducted on 60 teachers. Our research tries to reveal the profile of the seasonal agricultural workers families by the questions directed to the students about their families' members and themselves. Thanks to the questions directed to the students, how the process of the seasonal agricultural workship is carried out, the workers' life and working conditions and the viewpoints of the students about this working style were examined. Additionally, the result of the evaluation scale contected on the teachers of these students was used in order to get information about these students' school life, their success, friendship relations and future. Since this research is basically descriptive, descriptive statistics were used. The results of the questionnaire conducted on the students were interpreted with the tables showing the frequency and percentage rate. An evaluation scale consisting of 21 questions was also conducted on 60 teachers. Teachers choose one of the options "Never, Seldomly, Sometimes, Often, Always" for the each question prepared according to the Likert Scale. Findings obtained from our research have revealed that seasonal agricultural workship is chosen by the crowded families not having the social security. It is revealed that the children of these families who are students at the secondry school also work on the seasonal agricultural workship sometimes on the school time and generally on the summer holiday. It is shown that seasonal agricultural workship effect these children school success negatively. Key Words: Seasonal Agricultural Workship, Seasonal Agricultural Workers (Children), Secondary School Students, Educational Success.