Managing Public High Schools in the Competitive World of Private High Schools

Abstract

Competition, which should be used as an opportunity to increase the quality of products or services in educational institutions, can reduce the effectiveness and motivation of one of the parties when it is carried out under unequal conditions. The competitive approach of private high schools, which has increased with the legal regulations, causes public high schools to lose their successful students. For this reason, it is important to determine the aspects that need to be strengthened in order for public high schools to have equal conditions in this competition. The aim of this qualitative study in a phenomenological design was to determine the effect of the competitive approach created by private high schools on public high schools from the point of view of the principals of private and public high schools. It was expected that the results of the research would contribute to the policy makers in the efforts to strengthen public high schools in a competitive environment. The data of the research were collected using the individual interview technique and the content analysis method was applied in the analysis phase of the data. The findings indicated that public high school principals should be empowered in terms of curriculum flexibility, taking initiative and managing human resources. It has been proposed to transform some public high schools that can be accessed by students who cannot benefit from private high school facilities, especially for socioeconomic reasons, and to make special-purpose public high schools suitable for competition.