Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Investigation of ethical dilemmas of school principals: comparing Turkish and Canadian principals

  • Published:
Asian Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Increasingly complex working environments of school principals inevitably led them to face moral dilemmas in daily life. The aim of this research is to reveal which kinds of moral dilemmas principals fall into mostly, how principals follow the road to making decisions in the moral dilemmas, and if the nature of management affects the decision-making process of their moral dilemmas or not. For data collection process snowball sampling was used. Semi-structured interviews and vignettes which were designed by researchers were used for data collection. According to results, principals in Turkey have experienced moral dilemmas based on self-interests instead of ethic of critique which is experienced by Canadian principals. Moreover, taking into consideration the decision-making process, although principals in Canada follow the same procedure as the Turkish principals, they have two extra steps: “considering the students’ benefit” and “considering teachers’ and parents’ needs.” Lastly, it is seen that the Turkish and Canadian principals’ natures which affect the moral dilemma decision-making process are totally different. The possible reasons for these differences and suggestions were discussed within this context.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baloğlu, N. (2014). Karar verme. In S. Turan (Ed.), Eğitim yönetimi: Teori, araştırma ve uygulama (pp. 225–266). Ankara: Pegem.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, E. C. (1992). Personal morals and organizational ethics. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

  • Check, J., & Schutt, R. K. (2012). Research methods in education. SAGE.

  • CMEC (Council of Ministers of education Canada). (2012). Teacher education and development study in mathematics.

  • Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research methods in education. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cranston, N., Ehrich, L. C., & Kimber, M. (2006). Ethical dilemmas: the “bread and butter” of educational leaders’ lives. Journal of Educational Administration, 44(2), 106–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cranston, N., Ehrich, L. C., & Kimber, M. (2014). Managing ethical dilemmas. C.M. Branson & S.J. Gross (Edt). The handbook of ethical educational leadership. New York: Routledge.

  • Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches. Sage Pub.

  • Cubitt, S., & Burt, C. (2002). Leadership style, loneliness and occupational stress in New Zealand primary school principals. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 37(2), 59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dempster, N., & Berry, V. (2003). Blindfolded in a minefield: principals’ ethical decision-making. Cambridge Journal of Education, 33(3), 457–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dussault, M., & Barnett, B. G. (1996). Peer-assisted leadership: reducing educational managers’ professional isolation. Journal of Educational Administration, 34(3), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578239610118848.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eret Orhan, E., & Ok, A. (2014). Who prefer teacher education programs? Candidates’ entry characteristics and attitude towards teaching. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 29(4), 75–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finch, J. (1987). The vignette technique in survey research. Sociology, 21(1), 105–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foster, W. (1986). Paradigms and premises: new approaches to educational administration. NewYork: Prometheus Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fullan, M. G. (1993). Why teachers must become change agents. Educational Leadership, 50(6), 12–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghosh, R. (2004). Public education and multicultural policy in Canada: the special case of Quebec. International Review of Education, 50(5–6), 543–566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Göçer Şahin, S., & Gelbal, S. (2016). A scaling of preservice teachers’ motivational factors in choosing the teaching profession. Eğitimde ve Psikolojide Ölçme ve Değerlendirme Dergisi, 7(2), 443–458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenfield, W. D. (1991). Rationale and methods to articulate ethics and administrator training. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (Chicago, IL, April 3-7).

  • Hatcher, W. S. (1998). Love, power, and justice: the dynamics of authentic morality. Wilmette: Bahá'í Pub. Trust.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgkinson, C. (2004). The triumph of the will: an exploration of certain fundamental problematics in administrative philisophy. In H. Tomlinson (Ed.), Educational management, major themes in education 1 (pp. 29–45). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoşgörür, V., & Arslan, İ. (2014). The problem of managing financial resources in school organizations (the sample of Yatağan district). Trakya University Journal of Education, 4(1), 91–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard, M. P., & Mallory, B. J. (2008). Perceptions of isolation among high school principals. Journal of Women in Educational Leadership, 6(1), 7–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, T. M. (1991). Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations: an issue-contingent model. Academy of Management Review, 16(2), 366–395. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1991.4278958.

  • Jones, R. (1994). The loneliness of leadership. Executive Educator, 16(3), 26–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kavak, Y., Ekinci, C. E., & Gökçe, F. (1997). İlköğretimde Kaynak Arayışları: Bir Araştırma. Ankara: Şafak Matbaacılık.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirby, P. C., Paradise, L. V., & Protti, R. (1992). Ethical reasoning of educational administrators, structuring Inquiry around the problem of practice. Journal of Educational Administration, 30(4), 25–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langlois, L. (2004). Responding ethically: complex decision-making by school district superintendents. International Studies in Educational Administration, 32(2), 78–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langlois, L. (2011). The anatomy of ethical leadership: to lead our organizations in a conscientious and authentic manner. Athabasca University Press.

  • Martin, E. (2004). Vignettes and respondent debriefing for questionnaire design and evaluation. Methods for testing and evaluating survey questionnaires, pp. 149–171.

  • Menteşe, S., Üstün, A., & Gökdelen, A. (2012). The competence of primary school principals in managing the financial resources of the school (the case of Ordu). Hitit Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 5(2), 41–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: a guide to design and implementation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı. (2016). Milli eğitim istatistikleri: örgün eğitim. Retrieved from http://sgb.meb.gov.tr/meb_iys_dosyalar/2016_03/30044345_meb_istatistikleri_orgun_egitim_2015_2016.pdf.

  • Millî Eğitim Bakanlığına Bağlı Eğitim Kurumlarına Yönetici Görevlendirme Yönetmeliği. (2018). T.C. Resmi Gazete, 30455, 21 Haziran 2018.

  • Ministry of Education. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/teacher/directobe.html [10.12.2019].

  • Miser, A. B. (1995). Moral dilemmas of the school principalship. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Northern Colorado, College of Education, Colorado.

  • Norberg, K., & Johansson, O. (2007). Ethical dilemmas of Swedish school leaders: contrasts and common themes. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 35(2), 277–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • OECD. (2012). Education at a glance 2012: highlights. OECD Publishing.

  • OECD. (2015). Education at a glance 2015: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing.

  • OECD. (2016). Education at a glance: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing.

  • OECD. (2018). Education at a glance: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing.

  • Pareyra, M. A., Kotthoff, H., & Cowen, R. (2011). PISA under examination: changing knowledge, changing tests and changing schools. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods. Newbury Park: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starratt, R. J. (1991). Building an ethical school. Educational Administration Quarterly, 27(2), 185–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Starratt, R. J. (2004). Ethical leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staw, B. M., & Szwajkowski, E. (1975). The scarcity-munificence component of organizational environments and the commission of illegal acts. Administrative Science Quarterly, 20(3), 345–354. https://doi.org/10.2307/2391995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tekel, E. (2018). Investigation of the moral dilemmas of the school principals in the decision-making process in terms of multiple ethical paradigms. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Turkey.

  • Treviño, L. K. (1986). Ethical decision making in organizations: a person-situation interactionist model. Academy of Management Review, 11(3), 601–617. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1986.4306235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK). (2002). Türkiye eğitim harcamalarının finansman kaynaklarına göre miktarı ve dağılımı. Retrieved from http://www.tuik.gov.tr/PreTablo.do?alt_id=1018.

  • UNDP. (2018). Human development indices and indicators: 2018 statistical update. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): NewYork.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, K., & Shakotko, D. (1999). The Canadian superintendency: value-based challenges and pressure. In P. T. Begley (Ed.), Values and educational leadership (pp. 289–313). Albany: State University of New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilks, T. (2004). The use of vignettes in qualitative research into social work values. Qualitative Social Work, 3(1), 78–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yıldırım, İ. (1989). Okul örgütlerinde karar verme ve karara katılma. Eğitim ve Bilim, 13(73), 18–24.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This article was supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Akdeniz, Antalya, Turkey

    Engin Karadag

  2. Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey

    Esra Tekel

Authors
  1. Engin Karadag
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Esra Tekel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Engin Karadag.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Karadag, E., Tekel, E. Investigation of ethical dilemmas of school principals: comparing Turkish and Canadian principals. Asian J Bus Ethics 9, 73–92 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-020-00100-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-020-00100-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation