DECISION-MAKING OF SCHOOL PRINCIPALS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION

2022-1
Sarıhan, Selin
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The recent COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global-scale crisis at schools, leading to a huge disruption in educational activities. This study explores crisis perceptions and the decision-making process of the school principals, using the ongoing COVID-19 crisis as an example. The study is designed as a qualitative exploration with semi-structured interviews conducted with nineteen school principals in a district of Gaziantep province in Turkey. Data were analyzed through descriptive and content analysis. In the study, the majority of the principals defined crises as nonroutine and unexpected events; while when they are asked to exemplify crises, they gave the pandemic, school closures, natural disasters and interpersonal conflicts. To manage crises well, the principals emphasized the importance of precautions and financial power, crisis team, and crisis planning. The principals stated that during the pandemic, their responsibilities increased while they had no or little compensation. Their decision-making is shown to be affected by bureaucracy, ambiguities in authority in decisions, time pressure, risks, and experience. The results revealed that the principals are not knowledgeable about crisis management. Furthermore, there was not any on-purpose crisis desk or plan for the COVID-19 pandemic, while positive v examples of initiative among the principals can be seen. Bureaucracy is shown to have a positive effect for more experienced and inexperienced principals, while the rest emphasized the situational effects of bureaucracy, which sometimes cause inaction. The results revealed that the principals should be supported, trained, and given more flexibility for effective crisis management, while the authorities should prepare themselves better.
crisis management, COVID-19 Pandemic, school principals, crisis perception, crisis decision making
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/95224
Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

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Citation Formats
S. Sarıhan, “DECISION-MAKING OF SCHOOL PRINCIPALS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2022.
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