A qualitative analysis on the experiences of school administrators who left to return to the classroom: Voices from the field

The main purpose of this research is to examine the experiences of individuals who returned to teaching after working as a school administrator (principal or vice principal) for a certain period of time in Turkey. This research was designed through the qualitative research method, using a qualitative approach to capture the real-life experiences of the participants. Accordingly, this research is phenomenological. I recruited teachers selected by the criterion sampling method, which is one of the purposive sampling methods. In this context, qualitative interviews were conducted with teachers who had previously worked as school administrators (school principals or vice principals) and willingly returned to teaching. A total of 17 participants took part in the research. I had interviews with the participants in order to reveal their experiences with the theme of the research. In order to collect data, I designed a semi-structured interview that consists of two parts. I used content analysis techniques to analyse the data obtained in this research. As a result of the analysis of the findings, I formed themes related to perceptions towards school administration, perceptions towards the teaching profession, motivations and incentives for becoming a school administrator, reasons for leaving school administration, and teaching experiences before and after school administration. Among the prominent findings regarding the motivations of the participants to become school administrators are the desire for personal development arising from an idealistic perspective, the desire to use their own initiative, the desire to develop their skills and abilities in new areas, and the desire to test their abilities and see what they can achieve. When the results of the participants' voluntary resignation from school administration are analyzed; factors such as excessive stress and dissatisfaction with the profession, lack of professional satisfaction, heavy responsibilities brought by the administrative role, the procedures of the administrative role, the unsuitability of the task for the personal structure, the drudgery of administration, the tiring and exhausting and intense tempo of the administrative task, the difficulties during the pandemic period, legal restrictions that limit the effectiveness of the administrative role, responsibility-authority imbalance and extra responsibilities are the main reasons why the participants returned to teaching. One of the striking findings was that there were mostly positive differences in the participants' teaching experiences after they left school administration compared to their teaching experiences before administration. One of the recommendations of the study is that school administrators should be equipped with professional development programs that encourage effective school management. Other recommendations obtained as a result of the findings are that teachers should be trained in a way that will strengthen communication with administrators and ensure more effective cooperation, and that the Ministry of National Education should reorganize the process of appointing administrators in a transparent and merit-based manner in order to increase trust and effectiveness in leadership positions.