Reflections of Urban Poverty on Education from the Perspectives of School Administrators

Abstract

This study aims to reveal the opinions of school administrators working in disadvantaged schools in Mugla city center (Mentese) about the reflections of urban poverty on education. The study was designed as a case study, one of the qualitative research models. The study group included 15 school administrators from three secondary schools and four primary schools in Mentese's disadvantaged neighborhoods. The data were obtained through face-to-face interviews with school administrators using the interview form developed by the researchers. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis and content analysis. The results obtained from the research show that urban poor students may have risky behavioral patterns, they generally experience failures in academic terms, their parents cannot provide sufficient support for their education processes, the schools they attend have to cope with a lack of opportunities, and that this lack can create an obstacle to the support that can be provided to the urban poor children.

Literature Review: Urban Poverty in a Sociological Perspective

“…Various perspectives have examined the problem of poverty, namely from the perspective of school managers (Hosgorur et al, 2023), employment (Sofo & Wicks, 2017), and urban politics (Levine, 2017). Thus, it is necessary to study the problem of poverty sociologically.…”

“…One way to alleviate poverty requires a multidimensional policy strategy (for example, Castro, 2007;Guo et al, 2021;Wilson et al, 2022;Niu & Xu, 2023;Chevo, 2022). Different perspectives are very important when looking at the problem of poverty (Hosgorur et al, 2023;Marwell & Morrissey, 2020;Sofo & Wicks, 2017;Walker et al, 2013;Levine, 2017).…”