Professional beliefs, as cognitive structures based on the meaning of the decisions and practices within the professional organization, are significant in the perspective of school management and administration, unifying those who carry out this task and creating standards. In this context, the research aims to examine the beliefs of school principals and their deputies toward school management. The phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research designs, was used to explore the phenomenon of school principals’ and their deputies’ beliefs toward school management. The participants of the research consisted of school principals and deputy principals. Semi-structured interviews and memory forms were used to collect the data for the research. The data of the research were analyzed by content analysis. According to the findings, among the beliefs of school principals and their deputies regarding the qualities of the managerial task, “social-oriented beliefs” they emphasized the most. On the one hand, school principals and their deputies mostly had the view of “professional inadequacy beliefs” regarding their beliefs about their professional competence, on the other hand, they emphasized the theme of “entry to duty-oriented beliefs” regarding their beliefs about the professionalization process. In the narratives of school administrators, the theme of “self-efficacy beliefs on management” was emphasized in their beliefs about school management. Based on the findings about the beliefs of school principals and their deputies toward school management, it can be suggested that school management be defined as a profession, and the areas where they feel inadequate should be developed.
Cite this article as: Altunay, E., & Ofluoğlu, K. (2023). Examining school principals’ and their deputies’ beliefs toward school management. HAYEF: Journal of Education, 20(2), 177-190.