Holistic Student Support in Turkish Imam Hatip Schools: MTSS‐Aligned Practices in Faith‐Based Public Education

ABSTRACT This study examines how school administrators in Turkish Imam Hatip schools, a distinctive form of faith‐based public education, perceive and organize holistic student support. The study does not assume that these schools implement MTSS as a fully formalized, school‐wide model. Instead, MTSS is used as an analytical framework for examining MTSS‐aligned student support practices within a centralized and value‐oriented public school context. Based on a qualitative research design, data were collected from 21 school administrators through semi‐structured interviews and written responses and analyzed using a codebook‐oriented thematic analysis. The findings show that participants conceptualized student needs as multidimensional, including academic underachievement, behavioral and disciplinary difficulties, social‐emotional vulnerabilities, fragmented family structures, socioeconomic disadvantage, boarding school conditions, digital dependency, and basic physical needs such as nutrition. Support practices were generally organized through a progressive logic: teachers first identified and responded to student difficulties through classroom‐based observation and initial intervention; more complex needs were then addressed through counseling services, administrative follow‐up, family collaboration, coaching systems, individualized guidance, and restorative disciplinary approaches. Value‐oriented school culture also shaped these practices through moral responsibility, belonging, relational care, solidarity, and the principle of not “losing” a student. Overall, the findings reveal MTSS‐aligned support practices shaped by school‐based monitoring, professional judgment, counseling services, family collaboration, and value‐oriented administration. The study contributes by showing how holistic student support is interpreted and organized in faith‐based public schools within a centralized education system.