Abstract

Much of current studies focus on the investigation of the thinking styles of students and teachers. However, exploring school administrators' and inpectors' thinking styles is also critical for increasing students’ achievement at school.  For that purpose, this study was performed to determine the thinking styles of teachers, principals, and inspectors who work in primary education. Thinking Styles Inventory  and a questionnaire were developed to collect demographic information of the participants. The participants of this study included 737 teachers, school principals, and inspectors working at primary education institutions in Turkey. All the data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, t-test, and variance analysis. Some of the significant findings of the research were as follows: (1) most frequently preferred thinking styles of teachers, managers, and inspectors were hierarchic, executive, and legislative while the least common were conservative, local, and global; (2) thinking styles varied across status, educational background, gender and affiliation.

Key words: Thinking styles, primary education, administrators.