School Principals' Opinions about Public Relations Practices on Schools

Abstract

Schools are at the forefront of the institutions that need to be in close relations with the social environment. In this regard, practices of the public relations are prominent. This obligation is also responsibility of the school principals, as there are no public relations units in public schools. The purpose of this research is to reveal the opinions of school principals about public relations practices at school. Research is a case study in which qualitative data is used. Semi-structured interview form created by the researcher were used as data collection tool by reviewing the literature and taking expert opinions. This data collection tool was implemented by the researcher to 13 school principals working at different levels of education. As a result of the interviews it is revealed that school principals had enough awareness about public relations, statements of public relations were correctly understood by the school principals, but routine activities had carried out rather than planned activities. School principals are warmly committed to having a unit of planned and specialized people on public relations in their schools. In this direction, it is suggested that the schools should be supported by public relations units or public relations specialists so that they can carry out activities related to the people in a more qualified and planned way.