The relationship between school effectiveness and organizational peace: Evidence from southeastern Türkiye

As student outcomes affect the entire society, the effectiveness of schools has been a subject of significant debate for more than half a century. Another issue of vital importance for societies is peace. Although peace is given the importance that it deserves in many disciplines, it has remained a neglected concept for organizations. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between school effectiveness and organizational peace. This study was designed in a cross-sectional and correlational model in accordance with the quantitative method. The sample of the study consisted of 517 teachers working at public middle schools and high schools in the Şanlıurfa province in southeastern Türkiye who were selected by stratified sampling. A significant relationship was found between school effectiveness and the internal peace dimension of organizational peace, and as the organizational peace levels of schools increased, their effectiveness levels also increased. The participants perceived the effectiveness of their schools to be low and moderate, while they considered organizational peace to be negative. As another noteworthy result of the study, the participants who were working at middle schools perceived the effectiveness and organizational peace at their institutions to be substantially lower than those who were working at high schools. Our results contribute to the literature on school effectiveness in an organizational peace context and the expansion of the body of knowledge on the topic by offering evidence from Türkiye as a developing country. Additionally, we also bring practical recommendations for the improvement of organizational peace and school effectiveness levels.