AN EVALUATION OF CHANGES IN THE CURRICULUM

IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVEL IN TURKEY

ASSIST. PROF. M . AKIF HELVACI
U§ak University,
Education Faculty,
U§ak-Turkey

The aim of this study is to evaluate the changes in the curricu-

lum of 1-5 grades in Elementary Schools and the efficiency of
school administrator in managing change in the change process.
The questionnaire was applied to the school administrators for
the elementary schools of U§ak province of Turkiye. The ques-
tionnaire comprises 3 open-ended questions.. Firstly, it was
emphasized that lack of finances, resistance by the teachers and
inadequate structures at schools such as building, equipments
(tools, labs and computers) and physical infrastructures, were
the main factors preventing changes and innovations at elemen-
tary schools. Secondly, it was found out that elementary school
principals were not sufficient enough to carry out changes "com-
pletely". Lastly, elementary school teachers had possessed the
following competencies which are necessary for having changes
effectively at schools: "having leadership feature", having posi-
tive attitudes towards changes and innovations (such as
believing and being receptive to have changes or innovations,
and developing oneself, "having specific personal characteris-
tics (such as honesty, foresight, dynamism, patience, convincing
and determination" and "being able to get ready the school staff
to the changes and innovations (giving necessary information to
the staff and having functional meetings and seminars)".
Key words: change, managing change. Competency in manag-
ing change.

Introduction (Drucker, 1996, p. 87).

Knowledge, which has influenced the
21st. century, has shown twofold increase
per four years. Developed societies who
have carried out the necessary conditions
of the century have been named as "knowl-
edge society / postmodern society". An
especially development in computer as
well as communication and in the parallel
of these developments, people's having
easy access to knowledge have caused it
to be an important power. Nowadays,
knowledge is the fundamental capital of
economy namely the basic source of it
Just like other institutions, objectives,
structure and contents of educational insti-
tutions, which are the important parts of
socio-cultural as well as economic inno-
vation and development, become different,
It has been an absolute necessity to be dif-
ferent in terms of schools in order to adapt
the conditions of the time (B alci, 2001, p.
495; Taymaz, 1997, p. 28; Cafoglu, 1996,
p. 39).
Especially after 1980s in Turkey, it is
observed that there are activities done for
changing the educational system under the

308

names of "restructure", "educational
reform", "redesign" or "development" in
order to reach proper living conditions
necessitated by the contemporary life and
increase the quality of education.
In order to increase quality and improve
equity in education in Turkey, utilize
research findings in various scientific areas
to improve educational programs ; and
integrate improvements in teaching and
instruction in the curriculum, new educa-
tional programs for the grades 1-5 have
been being used since 2005-2006 acade-
mic year. The aim of these new programs
is to save students from memorizing
knowledge, and help them improve their
creativity, decision-making and problem
solving abilities and inquiry skills.
Increase of change and diversity in edu-
cation field today with respect to past,
reform which is introduced together with,
attempts for reconstructing or school devel-
opment give much of the responsibility to
those who make decisions. Expectations
from the schools and the role of the school
principals together with are changing. It
has been evaluated as a common view-
point that role and responsibilities of the
school principals will be changing contin-
uously and they will never be a constant
principal (Edwards, 2000; Taymaz, 1997,
p.29; Açikalin, 1995; Çetin and Yalçm,
2002; Titiz, 1999; Cafoglu, 1996, p. 39).
Change management is an important
and passionate topic for schools as much
as institutions which have given service
and produced work. The objective of edu-
cation is to educate and give instruction.
Education and instruction mean to change
and be different. Therefore, the most
Evaluation of Changes... / 309
important role of the schools is to manage
the change. As the aim of the management
is to change and educate, this situation has
given a private importance to the schools.
The term "learning organizations" in con-
temporary management has been using for
this characteristics. The idea of learning
organizations states inseparable part of
organizational process of education
change, consequently change (James and
Connoly, 2000, p. 16).
New roles of the principals in the 21st.
century are to manage the change, set up
flexible constructions, have dynamic sys-
tems, manage systematic and unsystematic
conditions for today and tomorrow, con-
stitute learner organization and enable
learner organization to live infinite (Teten-
baum, 1998; quoted in Çelik, 2000,p. 162).
In other perspective, it is emphasized that
educational leaders need to have leader-
ship actions and thinking structures such
as acting in proactively, having a vision,
being a transformational leader, managing
change, risks and crisis in order to exist in
a knowledge or a postmodern society
(Aytac, 2002, p. 59).
School principals, who desire to carry
out changes and innovation, need to know
change processes very well, school orga-
nizations in terms of organizational
perspective, powers which direct schools
to change and which elements of organi-
zations are affected so that they require a
change. Similarly, a school principal should
be competent enough to make others need
a change, decide the changing need, define
the change, plan the change, apply the
change and evaluate the change (Helvaci,
2005, p. 275). These kind of knowledge
310 / Education Vol. 130 No. 2
and skills constitute the scope of manag-
ing the change and it is expected that school
principals are change managers, transfor-
mational / change leader or change expert
(representative) (Sparks, 1993; Bamburg,
1994; Alkan,1992, p. 46; Peterson, 1995;
Aliç,1990,p.l2;Çalik,1997,p.53;Karip,
1996, p. 245).
Aim of the Research
The main aim of this research is eval-
uate the problems faced in schools during
the change process in the curriculum and
the effiency of the school administratiors
in this process. In relation to the main aim
of the research, research questions are as
follows:
a. What are the difficulties faced while
having an attempt to change and inno-
vate occurring at schools?
b. Are the school principals competent
enough to manage the changes at
schools?
c. What responsibilities and functions do
the school principals should have for
effective changes at schools?
Importance of the Study
This research explores the changes
occurring at schools and evaluates to what
extend the school principals are able to
carry out their duties. With data obtained
via this research, especially it is expected
to find out:
a. Changes occurring at schools offer real-
istic knowledge for school principals'
existing competencies and these
changes contribute effectively to the
change-attempts.
b. Changes occurring at schools will show
a way to the training programs of
schools principals.
c. It is expected that changes at educa-
tional organizations will create
opportunities for thinking, debating and
conducting new researches.
Limitations
This research is limited to the opinions
of school principals, working for the ele-
mentary schools in U§ak province of
Turkiye bound to the Ministry of Educa-
tion, in relation to "changes occurring at
schools and the roles of schools principals
in the changing process". Teachers and
principals of private elementary schools,
private and governmental secondary
schools are out of scope of this study.
Similarly, evaluating the school princi-
pals in terms of their competencies is only
limited to the elementary school principals
and teachers. Teachers and principals of
private elementary schools are out of the
scope of this study.
Definitions
Change: Change is a process for creat-
ing new opinions in the sense of individual
and organizational level, making decisions
and applying these decisions by recon-
structing and meeting the needs, when
existing conditions are not sufficient
enough in terms of the needs of the group
which are changing.
Change Management: It is a process for
carrying out planned and systematic
changes in order to meet expectations and
needs of the society as well as to attain the
objectives of the society effectively con-
fronting the changing world conditions of
 Evaluation of Changes... / 311

the organization. schools administered by the Ministry of

Competency: Competency can be
described as a set of individual character-
istics, method, experience, behavior, skill,
and knowledge required for carrying out
organizational objectives or conducting
the business.
Competency in managing change: Hav-
ing necessary knowledge, skills and
attitudes in order to carry out the change
in an effective way.
Method
Research Design
A descriptive model has been used in
order to evaluate the efficiency of school
administrators who are employed in state
National Education, in managing change
during the change process in the curricu-
lum of 1-5 grades in elementary school
level.
Population and Samples
Population of the research includes 286
elementary school administrators working
for U§ak province of Turkiye. Name of the
districts bound to U§ak province, are as
follows: Merkez (Center), Banaz, E§me,
Karahalli, Sivash, Ulubey. Data are col-
lected from these districts and the villages
bound to these districts. There are 286 ele-
mentary school administrators working for
175 elementary schools in 2006-2007, aca-
demic year. The sample were selected

Table 1 : Distribution of Schools and School Principals who constitute population

and samples

Distribution of

Number of Schools elementary school Distribution of elementary

Name of the Number of Schools
constituting the principals school principals
District constituting the samples
population constituting the constituting the samples

population

Uçak
66 32 130 39
(Center)

Banaz 36 17 47 14

Eçme 29 14 42 12

Karahalli 12 6 14 4

Sivash 18 9 27 8

Ulubey 14 7 26 8

Total 175 85 286 85

312 / Education Vol. 130 No. 2

Table 2. Distribution of Elementary School Principals who believe that changes occurring in the elementary

school curriculum at first grades are unsuccessful

Do you think that changes occurring at the elementary school

curriculum at first grades are successful? Why?

0/
Opinions N n

Yes, changes were a great success. 85 30 35

Partly successiul (it can not be said that changes are successful; there 85 40 47

are deficiencies such as problems in handwriting, difficulties in finding

necessary materials for the lesson, excessive number of aetivities in

books, not to have enough opportunities to explore).

No, changes were not a success (reasons include appointing school

principals for political decisions, but not for the abilities of them,

inadequacy of the school in terms of hardware and capacity, crowded

classes, principals working both morning and afternoon, teachers' not 85 15 18

having necessary qualifications, lack of contribution by the parents,

curriculum not to be applied / tried before

Total

randomly. 85 elementary school principals mine the number of elementary schools

from 85 elementary schools constitute the
samples of this research. In terms of gen-
der, there are 2 (2,3 %) females and 83
(97,7 %) males contributing to this research
as samples.
Theoretical samples figure has been
used in order to determine the size of the
samples (Balci, 2004, 95). This figure
shows that there are 85 elementary school
principals working for U§ak province as
samples of this research. It has also been
determined by proportion of number of
elementary schools and their principals
throughout U§ak province in order to deter-
and the number of principals as samples in
every district. Therefore, it has been used
multistage cluster sampling approach.
Data Collection and Analysis
The questionnaire which has consisted
of three open-ended questions has been
prepared with two section in order to reach
personal information and the aim of the
study. Datums which are related to the
changes of primary first education pro-
gramme and the change management
capacity of school managers have been
taken from the participants who partici-
 Evaluation of Changes... / 313

Table 3. Opinions of Elementary School Principals in relation to factors being difficulty towards

attempts on change or innovations

In your opinion, what kinds of difficulties are elementary schools confronted

towards attempts of change or innovation? N n %

Opinions

1. Financial problems of the School and goverrmients' not offering necessary 85 58 . 68

fínancial help to schools.

2. Teachers' being resistant towards changing themselves, not being open to 85 45 52

change and innovations, not showing necessary effort in order to change or

make innovations, being lazy, being fixed minded, being unqualified, being

unwilling to develop themselves.

3. Schools' having lack of finances, inadequate structures such as building, 85 28 33

equipments (tools, labs and computers) and physical inadequacies.

4. Bureaucratic difficulties / bureaucracy. 85 23 27

5. Parents' deprivation of finance and not being able to support change and 85 10 12

innovation at schools.

6. Teachers' not being given enough information about change and • 85 9 11

innovation, and not being understood the subject clearly (lack of in-service

teacher training programs).

7. School members' (teachers and parents) not desiring to go beyond the 85 9 8

ordinary system (tendency to prevent status quo).

8. Parents' negative attitudes towards change or innovation (such as not 85 7 8

being ready, not accepting necessary and being unwilling to change or

innovation).

9. Existing systems' prevention of change 85 . 6 7

10. Laws, acts and regulations' being obstacle to change 85 5 6

11. School principals' being not open to change or innovation, not showing 85 5 6

necessary effort to change and innovation

12. There is not any difficulty. 85 4 . 5

314 / Education Vol. 130 No. 2
pated the sample.
Prepared questionnaire has been pre-
sented expert opinion for the validity scope
of survey. Questionnaire has been experi-
mented preliminary by being applied
thirty-one teachers in order to measure the
reliability of the survey.
Questionnaire which has been improved
and has the last shape according to the
expert opinion and preliminary experiment
has been applied to all of the teachers in
sample coverage.
In order to make the study reliable,
answers given by the teachers for open-
ended questions have been analyzed by
researchers and then, the articles about
oneness and dissidence of the researchers
have been deñned. After that, reliability
of the survey has been figured out by using
the formula below which was composed by
Miles and Huberman (1994). Reliabili-
ty=(Oneness)/((Oneness)+(Dissidence))=0
.91
Findings and Interpretations
In this section findings of the survey
has been presented by tabling.
Findings and Interpretations of Ele-
mentary School Principals in relation
whether or not changes are successfully
occurred at curriculum of the first grades
In table 2, 47 % of the elementary
school principals emphasize that changes
occurring at curriculum of the first grades
are 'partly successful'. 35 % of them indi-
cate that changes are 'successful'. On the
other hand, 18 % of the principals stress
that changes are not successful. Most of
the principals focus on that, changes are
partly successful. Among reasons, they
emphasize that there are deficiencies such
as problems in handwriting, difficulties in
finding necessary materials for the lesson,
excessive number of activities in books,
not to have enough opportunities to
explore.
Findings and Interpretations of Elementary
School Principals in relation to difficulties
towards attempts on change or innovations
In table 3, it is clear from the principals
opinions that difficulties faced in schools
in relation to change or innovation, fol-
lowing points are often emphasized;
"schools' not having necessary finance and
governments' not offering necessary finan-
cial help to schools (n=58)", "teachers'
being opposed to change themselves, not
being open to change and make innova-
tion, not showing enough effort to change
and make innovation, teachers' being lazy,
teachers' having a fear that it will be a bur-
den on them and bring more
responsibilities on them, teachers' being
fixed-minded and unwilling to develop
themselves (n=45)", "schools' having lack
of finances, inadequate structures such as
building, equipments (tools, labs and com-
puters) and physical inadequacies (n=28)"
and "bureaucratic difficulties / bureaucra-
cy (n=23)".
When we look at the frequent points, we
see factors being difficulty for change and
innovation at schools which are related to
"schools' having lack of finances, inade-
quate structures such as building,
equipments (tools, labs and computers)
and physical infrastructure" as well as "par-
ents' deprivation of finance and not being
able to support change and innovation at

schools". In this sense, it is clear that finan-
cial difficulties are the main reason of not
being able to change or make innovations
at schools easily.
Dalin et. all (1993,87) have explained
that in the literature, one of the difficulties
faced by the institutions in terms of "not
being able to apply the change" is lack of
resources (such as money, tools and equip-
ment, time and administrative support).
Kanter at. all (1992, 43) have listed ten
principles for having changes successful-
ly and one of the principles has emphasized
that in order to have attractive changes and
apply these changes, there should have
financial support. It is definite that attempts
for change or innovation require some cost.
It is emphasized that other two diffi-
culties are based on "teacher" factor. Fullan
(1991) in his change model has focused
on the importance of the support by the
"teachers" while having changes or mak-
ing innovations at schools and attempts
without taking support of the teachers, will
be unsuccessfull. "Teachers" are the main
factors of change in the educational insti-
tutions. Adapting teachers to new
knowledge and skills (such as working
with information technology), acquiring
new behaviour and skills, having highly
effort on developing themselves, being
open to change and innovation, believing
the necessity of change and supporting
school administration are considered as
preventing the difficulties faced with the
change (Hopkins et all, 1998,25; Whitak-
er, 1983,3).
Other mentioned difficulty is related to
"parents' not supporting to change or inno-
vation efforts both physical and
Evaluation of Changes... / 315
psychological reasons". Peterson (1995,
quoted in Helvaci, 2005, 264) has indi-
cated that school principals need to be in
collaboration with parents, universities,
business enterprises and institutions offer-
ing social services in order to strengthen
the change process and resources for effec-
tive change at schools.
Another difficulty is related to "school-
s' system or structure. Hesselbein (1999)
has revealed that one of the most impor-
tant steps for changing an institution which
is transforming institution culture is to
"abandon assumptions, rules and politics
which are having logic for doing business
at the same way and then, built a new flex-
ible administration as well as relevant
burocratic structures".
Last difficulty for change or innovation
mentioned in this paper is based on "the
school principals". This point is directly
related to "teachers' not being given
enough information; therefore change is
not understood very well and school prin-
cipals are not qualified enough to manage".
316 / Education Vol. 130 No. 2

Table 4. Opinions of Elementary School Principals whether or not they are qualified enough to manage

changes at schools in the desired way

In your opinion, do you think that school principals are qualified

enough to manage changes at schools in the desired way?

Opinions N n %

Yes, I think so. 85 43 51

No, I do not think so. 85 18 21

1 believe they are partly qualified. 85 20 23

I am undecided. 85 4 5

Findings and Interpretations on whether or tion level of elementary school principals

not Elementary School Principals qualified in relation to change management (a case
enough to manage changes at schools in the study from U§ak province of Turkiye) has
desired way revealed the same findings, that is their
Looking at table 4, it can be said that qualification level is at the "average level".
51 % of the school principals think that These findings support what the authors
they are "qualified" enough to manage
of this paper have found out.
changes at schools. However, 23 % of them
indicate that they are "partly qualified" but
23 % of them emphasize that they are "not
qualified" to manage changes at schools.
Similarly, 5 % of them reveal that they are
"undecided" about the issue.
In this case, it can be said that elemen-
tary school principals' qualification level
of managing changes is average. In other
words, their qualification level is neither
high nor low. It is at the average level. Hel-
vaci (2004), in his research on
"qualification level of elementary school
principals in Turkiye on managing
changes" has found out that elementary
school principals' qualification level of
managing change is at the average level.
Nevertheless, other research by Helvaci
and Ak (2007), which is about qualifica-
 Evaluation of Changes... / 317

Table 5: Opinions of Elementary School Principals on the main qualifications of them for managing

change at schools effectively.

In your opinion, what qualifications should elementary school priticipals have in order to

manage change at schools? N n %

Opinions

1. They should have leadership capacities (they should be good at communication, 85 65 76

democratic, self-directed, self-initiated, take risks, be motivated, encouraged and excited)

2. They should be able to follow recent changes and innovations occurring in the world, be 85 50 59

open to changes and innovations, believe the importance of change and innovations,

support occurring changes and innovations, and self-develop themselves.

3. Principals should have personal characteristics such as well-informed, cultured, 85 44 52

intellectual, honest, self-sacrifying, foresighted, dynamic, patient, determined, trustworthy

and convincing.

4. Principals should give be informative enough in relation to necessity of change or 85 23 27

innovation, and arrange seminars as well as in-service training courses.

5. Principals should overcome resistance of the teachers, prepare teachers to change, make 85 18 21

teachers open to change and eliminate teachers' attitudes in relation to status quo.

6. The principal of the school should make the staff realize the world's continuous 85 15 17

changing; they should make staff aware of the changes and technological innovations

occurring in the world.

7. Difficulties such as bureaucracy, financial and deficiencies in relation to infrastructure 85 13 15

should be overcome and new opportunities and resources should be created.

8. They should be empowered / their power should be expanded 85 8 9

9. They should know laws, acts and regulations very well 85 6 7

10. They can be able to develop projects regarding changes or innovations. 85 5 6

11. They should be good planners. 85 4 5

318 / Education Vol. 130 No. 2
Findings and Interpretations on main quali-
fications of Elementary School Principals
for managing change at schools effectively
Table 5 has shown that the most fre-
quent subject in relation to qualifications
of elementary school principals for man-
aging change effectively is pertaining to
"leadership" dimension (n=65) (they
should be good at communication, hard-
working, encouraged, excited, democratic,
self-directed, self-initiated, take risks, be
motivated and determined for a goal). In
the literature, it is considered important
that the institution principals, especially
school principals should have "leadership"
qualification in order to manage change
successfully. Morrison (1998, 210) has
stated that in education, as in transforma-
tional leadership, principals need to set up
effective and wide communication, esti-
mate possible risks, be encouraged and
excited as well as form a vision. Similar-
ly, Steward (1983) has revealed that
principals should not hesitate to be in dan-
ger or take risks be initiative, set up goals
and direct others. Likewise, Morrison
(1998,218) has emphasized that a change
leader should have qualities such as being
good at communication, convincing oth-
ers and sharing the vision with others.
Second most frequent qualification
(n=50) is that the principals should "be
able to follow recent changes and innova-
tions occurring in the world, be open to
changes and innovations, believe the
importance of change and innovations,
support occurring changes and innovations,
and self-develop themselves", which are
closely related to positive attitudes of
change or innovation. Sparks (1993, 13)
believes that especially principals need to
follow changes and innovations occurring
in the world, should know that change is
a necessity for the century we are living,
affect school staff from changes and inno-
vations and should self-develop themselves
in order to manage complicated change
processes at schools.
Third most frequent qualification
(n=44) is related to principals' personal
characteristics, that a principal should be
"well-informed, experienced, cultured,
intellectual, honest, self-sacrificing, fore-
sighted, dynamic, patient, determined,
trustworthy and convincing others". Ever-
ard and Morris (1996,230-232) has listed
the personal characteristics as being self-
sacrificing, foresighted, willing to take
risks, being tolerated, determined, trust-
worthy, convincing others, energetic,
honest, ethical, courageous, flexible and
adaptable in order to manage change suc-
cessfully.
Next qualification (n=23) is on giving
enough information to school staff in rela-
tion to the necessity of change or
innovation and preparing seminars, in-ser-
vice training courses to the staff (item
number 5). Sparks (1993,13) has explained
that those who manage change, need to
make teachers feel necessity of change,
believe and contribute to change as well as
inform the teachers on how change should
be and prepare effective seminars and
meetings for the sake of change in order
to manage complex and hard change
processes.
The following qualification (n=18) is
that "the principals should overcome resis-
tance of the teachers and prepare teachers

to change". People who are managing
change need to know not to ignore the real-
ity that the teachers can resist to the change
and to know what cautions should be taken
in order to prevent the resistance for man-
aging successful changes. School
administrators who are starting problem
solving processes at schools should be per-
ceived as the change experts who will
decrease resistance towards change and
find solutions to the problems (Tanriogen,
1995,211).
The seventh qualification (n=15) is that
"the principals need to make the staff real-
ize the world's continuous changing; the
teachers should be made aware of the
changes and technological innovations
occurring in the world ".
The following qualification (n=13) is
that "the principals should overcome dif-
ficulties such as bureaucracy,financialand
deficiencies in relation to infrastructure
and new opportunities as well as new
resources should be created". In general,
organizational change brings sources such
as capital, budget for education and qual-
ified people. Change managers should get
ready financial resources needed for
change and prepare a budget (Cummmings
and Worley, 1997,155). An organization-
al change requires defining factors which
are opposing and facilitating change.
Removing bureaucratic or legal difficul-
ties which are opposing to the change of
the organization are important for an effec-
tive change (James and Connolly, 2000,
28). .
The ninth qualification is that "the prin-
cipals should be empowered and their
power should be expanded (n=8)", the fol-
Evaluation of Changes... / 319
lowing qualification is based on that "the
principals should know laws, acts and reg-
ulations very well (n=6)", eleventh
qualification is that "the principals can be
able to develop projects for change or inno-
vation (n=5)" and last qualification is that
"the principals should be good planners
(n=4)".
Conclusion and Suggestions
Conclusions
Summary of the conclusion is as fol-
lows:
1. Opinions of school principals have
revealed that most frequent difficulties for
change or innovation at schools are as fol-
lows: "financial problems of the schools
and governments' not offering financial
help to schools", "teachers' being resistant
towards changing themselves, not being
open to change or innovation, not show-
ing necessary effort in order to change or
make innovations, being lazy, fearing that
their burdens and responsibilities will
increase, being fixed minded, being
unqualified, being unwilling to develop
themselves", "schools' having lack of
finances, inadequate structures such as
building, equipments (tools, labs and com-
puters) and physical inadequacies", and
"bureaucratic difficulties / bureaucracy".
2.53 % of the elementary school prin-
cipals have indicated that they are qualified
enough to conduct changes or innovations
at schools; whereas 25 % of them believe
that they are partly qualified for changes
or innovations. On the other hand, 17 % of
them think that they are not qualified
enough to have changes or innovations and
320 / Education Vol. 130 No. 2
5 % of them are undecided about the issue.
In this sense, it can be said that qualifica-
tions of elementary school principals for
managing change is at the average level.
3. Opinions of the elementary school
principals have revelaed the following
qualities which are needed to make effec-
tive changes at schools. They are
summarized as follows:
"Quality of leadership": This quality is
related to be good at communication, hard-
working, encouraged and excited,
democratic, self-directed, self-initiated,
take risks and set up goals;
"Quality of having positive attitude
towards recent changes and innovations":
This quality is based on being able to fol-
low recent changes and innovations
occurring in the world, being open to
changes and innovations, believing the
importance of change and innovations,
supporting changes and innovations
occurred, and self-developing themselves;
"Quality of Personal Characteristics":
This is another quality which is related to
be well-informed, cultured, intellectual,
honest, self-sacrificing, foresighted,
dynamic, patient, determined, trustworthy
and convincing;
"Quality of making staff to be ready to
change": This quality is based on being
informative enough in relation to necessi-
ty of change or innovation, and arranging
seminars as well as in-service training
courses;
"Quality of removing resistant to
change": Another quality that is related to
overcome resistance of the teachers, pre-
pare teachers to change and make teachers
open to change;
"Quality of creating the feel of change
necessity": This quality is based on mak-
ing staff realize the world's continuous
changing face as they should be become
aware of the changes and technological
innovations occurring in the world;
"Quality of getting ready the school
structure into change": This quality is relat-
ed to overcome difficulties such as
bureaucracy, financial and deficiencies in
relation to infrastructure and new oppor-
tunities. Also, new resources should be
created.
Suggestions
The following suggestions can be made
regarding the findings of the research:
1. Removing difficulties in relation to
finance, which make change attempts
unsuccessful, there should befinancialhelp
offered to schools and there should be in-
service training programs for making
teachers learn not to resistant towards
changing themselves, but be open to
change and innovation.
2. There should be educational or infor-
mational courses for the parents in order
to make them support changes or innova-
tions at schools and be sensitive towards
what is happening.
3. It is found out that principals are not
qualified enough to manage change suc-
cessfully. Therefore, there should be
educational programs about "change man-
agement" for the school principals and they
should be educated about this issue.
4. According to principals, in order to
conduct change effectively, the most
important qualifications should be "lead-
ership", "have positive attitude towards

change or innovation", have some personal
characteristics", "be able to give necessary
information about change or innovation to
school staff, "create feel for need of
change or innovation" and "remove fac-
tors resistant to change or innovation".
5. This research is based on the opin-
ions of elementary school principals.
Teachers' opinions should also be exam-
ined. Also, relationship between opinions
of both principles and teachers should be
evaluated.
6. Managing qualifications of princi-
pals of pre-school education and secondary
schools should be evaluated and their sim-
ilar or different sides should be revealed.
7. While appointing principals to ele-
mentary schools, managing effective
changes and having necessary knowledge
as well as skills for managing change
should be taken into consideration as an
important criterion.
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