Browsing by Author "Altun, Sadegul Akbaba"

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How Elementary School Principals' Change Tendencies Are Related With Their Opinion About Curriculum Change
(2014) Altun, Sadegul Akbaba; Buyukkurt, Sener
Leadership is important in change process and change management. Turkish educational system is undergoing a constant change. One of those changes was the change of the elementary school curricula, which had been accepted in the 2004-2005 academic year. Therefore, it is important to understand how school principals, as the persons who are in charge of this change, handle this process. In this respect, this study was aimed to determine school principals' tendencies toward change. Furthermore, it will also be explored whether those tendencies show any significant differences on some variables. Finally, having incorporated school principals' views on curriculum, school principals' change tendencies will be interpreted within this change phenomenon. This study was designed with a mixed methodology. In order to understand school principals' tendencies toward change, a change tendency scale, developed by Akbaba-Altun and Buyukozturk (2011), was utilized. In addition, school principals were asked to narrate their opinions regarding the changed curricula and its reflections on practice. The quantitative data were analysed through descriptive and interpretive analysis whereas the qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. A total of 179 elementary school principals joined the quantitative part of this study, whereas 154 of them participated in the qualitative one. It was observed that school principals were generally homogenous in their change tendencies. Within this context, this finding was supported by the qualitative data, as well. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Motivations and Barriers in Promoting Preschool Education
(2017) Altun, Sadegul Akbaba; Kucukturan, A. Guler; AAC-5447-2020
This study is designed to explore the reasons for sending and not sending preschool age children to preschools at an early age by exploring the motivations for and barriers towards promoting preschool education in Turkey. It aimed to determine various stakeholders' perceptions, attitudes, and knowledge related to preschool education in order to promote high-quality and comprehensive preschool education. The research was conducted with 224 participants in five cities in Turkey. Qualitative data was collected through individual and focus group interviews and interpreted by content analysis and descriptive analysis. The findings indicated that families put forward the following reasons for sending their children to preschool: preschool education prepares children for school and helps form the habit of attending school, teachers' efforts in convincing parents to send their children to preschool, providing the care for the children of working mothers with preschool teachers, and preschool helps children develop social behavior. The following factors were reasons families did not send their children to preschool: economic conditions, perceiving the child as too young, concerns over practices at school, perceptions about the mother's role, and distrust of the transportation system. The results will help decision makers develop policies and strategies to heighten the general public's awareness of the need for early education, as well as better provide early education opportunities.
Relationship between Students&Apos; Sense of School Belonging with Principals&Apos; Perceptions of School Discipline, and Teachers&Apos; Perceptions of School safety in TIMSS 2019
(CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY, 2024) Bora, Hatice Turan; Seheryeli, Merve Yildirim; Altun, Sadegul Akbaba
This research is a predictive correlational study aimed at examining the relationship between students' sense of school belonging, principals' perceptions of school discipline, and teachers' perceptions of school safety. In this research, Turkiye data of the fifth and eighth-grade students in TIMSS 2019 used. The study included 3991 fifth-grade students from 180 different schools and 4077 eight grade students from 181 schools. This study used HLM analysis to determine whether students' school belonging could be predicted by teachers' perceptions of school safety and principals' perceptions of school discipline using nested, hierarchical data. The first hypothesis of the study aims to examine whether students' school belonging differs within and among schools. According to the results of the study, the school belonging of fifth and eighth grade students differs among schools. The second hypothesis analyzed whether science and mathematics teachers' perceptions of school safety predicted student belonging levels. In the study, it was inferred that only eighth grade science teachers' perceptions of school safety significantly predicted their students' belonging levels. The third hypothesis analyzed whether principals' perceptions of school discipline predicted student belonging levels. It was observed that principals' perceptions of school discipline did not predict the belonging levels of students. In the last hypothesis of the study, it was examined whether science and mathematics teachers' perceptions of school safety and principals' perceptions of school discipline together predicted students' level of belonging to school. It was detected that science and mathematics teachers' perceptions of school safety and principals' perceptions of school discipline together did not predict students' level of belonging to school.
The Roles and Responsibilities of School Administrators During the Emergency Remote Teaching Process in Covid-19 Pandemic
(2021) Altun, Sadegul Akbaba; Bulut, Mustafa
When Covid 19 pandemic started, schools in Turkey, as in many parts of the world, were closed and then emergency remote teaching started. The purpose of this study is to explain the roles and responsibilities of school administrators related to emergency remote teaching after schools were closed. In order to reveal the purpose above, this research was carried out in qualitative research design. 105 school administrators from different regions of Turkey and different school levels participated in the study. The data were collected through a Google Drive form with open-ended questions. The collected data were analyzed with content and descriptive analyses. The findings showed that the roles and responsibilities of the school administrators regarding emergency remote teaching included planning the process, starting online classes, opening different social media accounts, managing the online program, solving the adaptation problems of students and teachers, monitoring the actions taken and motivating teachers, students, parents; communication and finally it has been seen that they are in the act of transition to and maintaining digital management. During the Covid 19 pandemic, school administrators have mostly done "communication". There were also changes in the communication styles of school administrators and social media tools were used effectively. The intensive use of technology in this period has caused changes in management processes and managers have mostly talked about digital management and the exhausting aspects of digital management are expressed as well as the facilitating ones. Since emergency remote teaching is not a common case in the K-12 Turkish education system, we hope the results of this study will contribute to a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities of school administrators during such emergency periods.