A Participatory and Democratic Education Administration Model: Local Education Boards

Abstract

This article presents a mixed method study on how to develop a participatory education management model as an alternative to the Turkish education administration system. Consisting of qualitative and quantitative methods, the mixed research method has been adopted to acquire the required data. Qualitative phase the education administration systems applied in OECD member countries, documents and reports available in the literature were evaluated. To reach wider masses, an online survey aiming at collecting the views of teachers and administrators was carried out by using the quantitative phase of the mixed method. This study has laid it bare that the principles of good governance, common sense, transparency, accountability, participation, democracy, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability stand forefront in educational systems that adopt the participatory education boards model. Eventually, a board/commission oriented local education administration model has been designed and developed as an alternative for the Turkish educational administration system.