Perceptions of educational managers on reflective thinking, strategic thinking and entrepreneurship

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate Educational Managers’ perceptions of reflective thinking, strategic thinking and enterprising. An interview technique, one of qualitative research methods, was used in this research. 9 participants, 3 directors from the Ministry and 6 directors from the Special Education of the National Ministry of Education. The factors, to specify reflective thinking, strategic thinking, and enterprising, specified on the interview form, were referred to in preparing authentic interview questions. The same questions were asked to all educational directors. The researcher met individually and received answers through interviews. The number of women participants were higher. The directors had 21–30 years of service and the ones in their present institution had 10–15 years of service. Among the participants, the number of the ones who decided to be directors was bigger. The number of participants who had a positive opinion about the sufficiency of the directors of the Ministry and the school directors was higher. All the participants stated that they developed their communication and were more patient in terms of their positive way of living specified in the interview questions. As for the strength of the institution, the participants stated that the directors of the Ministry disagreed with the power of the institution, but the school directors stressed that there was a strong working group at schools which reflected the power of the institution. For the weakness of the institution, the involved in the Ministry expressed the negative outcomes of political appointments and applications. On the other hand, the school directors complained that their demands from the Ministry for teacher shortage and the physical structure of the school building are not met. The authorities expressed that the institution did not have long-term strategic visions. Whereas, the school directors stressed that the vision of the institution has been explained in detail and the staff were well aware of it. In addition, it was explained that they had both long-term and short-term strategic plans. It has been noticed that all the participants exhibited enterprising skills and added a lot of innovations to the institution. The findings of this research indicated that there was a significant difference between the Ministry and the school directors in terms of strategic plans, visions, missions, positive–negative experiences and expectations. At the same time, the Ministry admitted that, although not institutionally, they benefited from reflective thinking, strategic planning and girişimcilikten, they were in a dead-end as an institution. On the other hand, the school directors, both as individuals and institutions, benefited from reflective thinking, strategic planning and enterprising, and expressed that their pessimism was related to their expectations from the Ministry. The Ministry stressed the need for radical changes in terms of administration and expected the government to study on this issue. The school directors stated that they had expectations from the Ministry, but they tried to find solutions to their problems from outside.