Assessing Personality Traits of School Administrators: A Big Five Perspective

Abstract

This research aims to evaluate the personality characteristics of school administrators in terms of the big five personality theory characteristics. With research, in order to bring about positive changes in the education system. It aims to provide guidance on developing effective methods for the development and improvement of school administrators' personality traits. Five factor personality traits of school administrators were examined according to variables such as gender, professional seniority, seniority at school and education level. In this research, the survey model, one of the quantitative research models, was used. It was held in the 2022-2023 academic year in Sakarya province Hendek district with the participation of school principals and deputy principals working at all public primary, secondary and high school levels. 84 school administrators participated in the research. “Five Factor Personality Scale” was used in the research. As a result of the research, it was concluded that school administrators perceived themselves positively at the level of "partially agree" with their personality traits. According to the results of the research, the personality characteristics of school administrators do not differ according to gender variable, and in terms of professional seniority variable; It has been observed that school administrators with 20 years or more of seniority have higher "responsibilities". When looked at in terms of the seniority variable at school, it has been observed that school administrators with 7 years or more of seniority have higher "responsibility" levels than school administrators with 1-3 years and 4-6 years of seniority. When looked at in terms of the education level variable, no significant difference was found between personality traits and education level. It was concluded that there is a positive, moderate, and significant relationship between the big five personality sub-dimensions of school administrators: extraversion, responsibility, agreeableness and openness.