An Investigation of the Changes in the Administrative Perception of Former Teachers Promoted as Section Directors

Abstract

Purpose of the study is to gain insights into the opinions of former teachers, who were lacking in any sort of management experiences and yet promoted as section director on the basis of a written and oral examination process, about the basic concepts of educational administration in the light of their experiences before and after they have been promoted to the managerial position. The research adopts a case study approach. The study focuses on two section directors who were former teachers and promoted to their new positions without any managerial experience. The data collected in two different occasions: The first data set including participants’ opinions about educational administration was collected within the realm of a course “Educational Administration” while they were studying for their master degree in the department of Educational Administration, Inspection, Planning and Economy (EAIPE) of Gaziantep University in the fall semester of 2013-2014 academic year. The second data set was collected after the participants had been promoted as section directors. In both data collection processes participants were applied the same set of open-ended questions. Analysis of the participants written responses clearly indicate a shift in their opinions from the educational processes to the managerial processes. In terms of management style, though taking side with democratic approach while they were teachers, they were observed to favour an autocratic approach following the appointment of their new positions.