Principals' opinions of organisational justice in elementary schools in Turkey

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to present the opinions of public elementary school principals in Turkey about the current organisational justice practices among teachers from the distributive, procedural, interactional, and rectificatory dimensions.Design/methodology/approachThe opinions of 11 public elementary school principals in Ankara about organisational justice practices were identified through focus group and conceptual analyses.FindingsSchool principals are seen to distribute justice on matters like leave of absence, rewarding, performance appraisal, student allocation to classes, and course programs. Some complicating factors for principals in justice distribution are differences in teachers' perceptions of justice, school size, and restrictions of the policies of the Ministry of National Education. When principals make a mistake in justice distribution, they resort to checking their compliance with regulations, attempting to correct the mistake, and apologising. When teachers deem school principals unfair, they distance themselves, accuse the principals of unfair administration, slow down their work, and engage in gossip.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited by the relatively small sample of principals involved.Practical implicationsThe research will lay the ground for discussion about the steps to eliminate current problems about organisational justice practices in schools and will contribute to policy development by the Ministry of National Education in this regard.Originality/valueThe study is significant in examining the concept of justice as a universal value at the school level, enabling comparison with similar studies in other countries; and being the first research in Turkey to investigate school principals' organisational justice practices.