Ethical dilemmas that school administrators and teachers experience: Reasons and coping strategies

The purpose of this research is to identify ethical dilemmas experienced by school administrators and teachers working in public middle schools, the reasons of these ethical dilemmas and the coping strategies used by administrators and teachers. In accordance with this purpose, phenomenological research design was used in this study. Criterion sampling and maximum variation sampling were chosen to determine participantsconsisting of 10 school principals, 10 assistant principals, and 10 teachers. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews prepared by the researcher. Results revealed that school principals, assistant principals, and teachers experience dilemmas in behavioral, structural, political, and systemic aspects. School principals and teachers mainly solve ethical dilemmas completely during the solution process while assistant principals mostly employ partially solving strategies. School principals and teachers commonly use the strategies of establishing a dialogue and receiving opinions in the process of solving ethical dilemmas as well as the strategy of unilateral decision making. Suggestions concerning the prevention and effective management of ethical dilemmas were offered to the Ministry of Education, provincial organizations, school administrators, teachers and researchers.

Okul yöneticilerinin ve öğretmenlerin yaşadıkları etik ikilemler: Nedenler ve baş etme stratejileri

Bu araştırmanın amacı resmî ortaokullarda görev yapan okul yöneticileri ve öğretmenler tarafından yaşanan etik ikilemler ve nedenleri ile okul yöneticileri ve öğretmenlerin bu etik ikilemlerle baş etme stratejilerini belirlemektir. Bu amaç doğrultusunda çalışmada nitel araştırma desenlerinden olgubilim deseni benimsenmiştir. Araştırmada katılımcıları belirlemek amacıyla amaçlı örnekleme yöntemlerinden ölçüt örnekleme ve maksimum çeşitlilik örneklemesi kullanılmıştır. Katılımcıları 10’ar okul müdürü, müdür yardımcısı ve öğretmen oluşturmuştur. Veriler araştırmacı tarafından geliştirilen yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Araştırmanın bulguları okul müdürlerinin, müdür yardımcılarının ve öğretmenlerin davranışsal, yapısal, politik ve sistemsel boyutlarda geniş bir yelpazede etik ikilemler yaşadıklarına işaret etmiştir. Sonuçlar okul müdürlerinin ve öğretmenlerin etik ikilemlerin çözüm sürecinde sonuca dönük olarak çoğunlukla etik ikilemleri tam olarak çözdüklerine işaret ederken müdür yardımcılarının çoğunlukla kısmen çözüm stratejisini kullandıklarına işaret etmiştir. Etik ikilemlerin çözümünde sürece dönük olarak okul yöneticileri ve öğretmenler yaygın olarak diyalog ve görüş alma stratejisini kullanırken tek taraflı karar verme stratejisini de kullanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda etik ikilemlerin önlenmesi ve etkin yönetimi bağlamında Milli Eğitim Bakanlığına, taşra teşkilatı ve okul yöneticilerine, öğretmenlere ve araştırmacılara yönelik öneriler sunulmuştur.

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