A Qualitative Research on Administration Ethics at School

Abstract

The aim of the research is to reveal the opinions of the school administrators about the administration ethics. In this study, 30 administrators working in the middle schools of Eskişehir province center in the 2016–2017 academic year were reached. In the study, data were gathered by interview technique which is one of the qualitative research methods. All of the interviews were conducted by the researcher individually. During the interviews, voice recordings were made with the interviewers who consented to this and note-taking system was used with the interviewers who did not consent to voice recording. Data were analyzed by content analysis method. Analyzing the content of the interview, themes and sub-themes were created according to thematic coding. According to the results of the research, the administrators stated that there was no written professional ethical principles in the school and they did not need them. However, there are officially written professional ethical principles. According to school administrators, the source of unethical behavior is inadequacy and being under pressure by many factors. However, some administrators can ignore unethical behavior. School administrators prefer to give punishment to the staff directly who will act unethically. Ethical practices in school administrators' schools are not at the level as it is supposed to be and are not functional. School administrators indicate that there is a professional difference between men and women. It is obvious that school administrators who participated in this study have deficiencies in ethics in school administration.