Personal Visions of The Administrators in Elementary Schools for the 21st Century

Abstract

Vision is an important dimension in the leadership characteristics of school administrators. This important dimension expresses a two-phased process, the development of personal and organizational visions. Our knowledge about the competence related to the vision development of school administrators employed at present is insufficient. In this study, the personal phase o f vision development process was investigated. The data were collected from 158 principals and 243 assistant principals employed in elementary schools located on the borders of the metropolitan municipality of Ankara in Turkey. The self-evaluations of the above-mentioned administrators about their proficiencies, self development fields, leadership styles, professional values and schools were determined. The principals and assistant principals are different from each other in determining their proficiencies, self development fields, and leadership styles. They seem to be a homogenous group in determining the climate of schools, the school-community relationships, the pressure of superior administrators and discipline. The results of the study indicated that the vision development potentials of school principals are valuable for the 21st. century.