As an educationalist working for a public school, would you send your child to a private school? Private schools in Turkey

Abstract

The rapid increase in the number of the private schools in Turkey provides parents new choices. This also leads teachers and administrators who work for state schools and who are also parents themselves to make a choice between private schools and state schools. In this regard, the aim of this study is to review the opinions of teachers and administrators working for the state schools on private schools. The research method is qualitative phenomenology design. The study group involves a total 136 teachers and school administrators working in schools located in Sivas city centre. The data of the study is collected via a survey with open ended questions developed by the researcher. Content analysis method is used for the analysis, and the data are demonstrated with the graphics. As their positive opinions on private schools, teachers and administrators stated that private schools supports academic success, they are rich in physical environment, they have more extra-class activities, they provide convenience for working parents and they contribute to students' progress. However, their negative opinions are private school fees, not enough contribution to student progress, constant turnover of teachers, and misleading behaviours towards parents. The findings show that, comparatively, the teachers and administrators are more reluctant to send their children to private schools, and besides, they have more negative viewpoints on private schools. At the end of the study, the suggestions both by the participants and the researcher are included.