Examining effectiveness of social clubs in educational organizations: Need for change in implementation

Abstract

This study aims to identify the opinions and recommendations of students concerning the effectiveness of social clubs in state primary and high schools in İstanbul. In this survey both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The study comprises of a sample of 1574 students. The data of the study was collected through the "Opinions About the Aims of Social Clubs Scale" which was developed by the researchers. The quantitative data was analysed by using percentages, frequencies, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, independent t-test and ANOVA. To analyse the qualitative data, content analysis technique was used. According to results high school students think that social clubs are ineffective, however, primary school students think that social clubs are effective. there was a significant difference according to level of education and grade level. The reasons of ineffectiveness of school social clubs were collected under four themes which are "Implementation Gap", "Managerial Problems", "Personal Reasons" , "Lack of Importance". The reasons for students finding the social clubs ineffective were that school principals and teachers did not find social clubs activities' important, no meetings or events were conducted and insufficient club course hours.