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" The Role of Principals in Fostering the Value of Tolerance at Hizmet Schools in South Africa "
Cetin, Ayhan
Smith, C KO
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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| Record Number
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1058976
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| Doc. No
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TL58093
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| Main Entry
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Cetin, Ayhan
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| Title & Author
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The Role of Principals in Fostering the Value of Tolerance at Hizmet Schools in South Africa\ Cetin, AyhanSmith, C KO
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| College
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University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
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| Date
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2019
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| Degree
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M.Ed.
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2019
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| Note
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154 p.
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| Abstract
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Tolerance is one of the most important values that needs to be nurtured in South Africa’s contemporary multicultural and diverse society. Schools are at the epicentre of teaching tolerance. Schools established by the Hizmet Movement (Hizmet means ‘service’ in Turkish) and inspired by the teachings of Fethullah Gülen – a Turkish Islamic scholar and educational activist – are internationally acclaimed for their propagation of tolerance, peace, dialogue and social cohesion. School leadership has a significant role to play in tolerance education by providing a vision, leading by example and through active participation. For this reason, it is crucial for principals to understand the notion of tolerance. The aim of this research, therefore, was to explore the role of Hizmet school principals in fostering tolerance in South African Hizmet Schools. I tried to reach this aim by investigating the following: the perception of tolerance of Hizmet school principals, the challenges principals face in tolerance education, practices of principals in tolerance education, and the leadership styles of principals in tolerance education. A qualitative research approach was employed. The eight Hizmet Movement affiliated schools in South Africa, known as Star Colleges, were selected to participate in the study. Focus group interviews and semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with the principals of the eight schools. Policies and minutes of meetings and other documents are analysed. Qualitative content analysis procedures were used to analyse the data. The findings of this study reveal that the Hizmet school principals’ perceptions of tolerance are shaped by the thoughts, teachings and practices of Fethullah Gülen. These perceptions can be summarised in two complementary sentences. First, they view tolerance as the essence of loving creation, based on the notion that everything comes from the Creator. The second is based on the principle of having a place for everyone in one’s heart. The most important challenges for principals in promoting tolerance are from teachers, students, parents and the media at different levels. Principals adopt a ‘lead by example’ approach to promote tolerance. The most effective practices of principals in tolerance education are home visits and a structured value system at the school. Principals adopt different leadership styles. Servant leadership, transformational leadership and moral leadership are the ones which can be observed most often. This study contributes to the limited research on tolerance education in South African schools. It also provides a comprehensive scholarly study on Hizmet Movement schools in South Africa.
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| Descriptor
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Community
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Consent
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Education
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Educational administration
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Educational leadership
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Islam
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Qualitative research
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School principals
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Students
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Smith, C KO
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University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
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