How autonomous should schools be? Research based on teacher opinions

Abstract

The study intended to contribute to the quality of schools and teachers with the help of suggestions obtained from data and to shed light on regulations in school autonomy. Qualitative research method, which was thought to be more convenient to examine cases in depth, was used in this study and phenomenology was adopted. In order to provide maximum diversity, twenty four voluntary teachers were chosen from pre-school (5 teachers), primary school (7 teachers), secondary school (7 teachers) and high school (5 teachers). Following results were obtained related to more effective school management:  Decisions related to teacher dismissal and dismissal of other staff should be taken by upper educational managers and not by schools; schools should be given full autonomy in making decisions about duties  and responsibilities of school managers, giving overtime to teachers and other staff, paying for additional courses, choosing school managers, appointing substitutes for absent teachers and other staff and deciding the duties and responsibilities of teachers and other staff. Before schools and teachers are provided with more autonomy, effective, sufficient and qualified school managers should be selected, trained and assigned. Financial issues should be audited externally and controlled carefully.