Principal leadership has long been accepted as a key factor and a central figure in school improvement. According to Wildy, Clarke, Beycioglu and Styles (2009) principals are expected to manage schools effectively in the face of multiple and varied competing pressures. It is a current issue for educational researchers in different contexts around the world to have a close look at how appropriate principal preparation programs are to fill the changing demands of principals.

International Study of Principal Preparation (ISPP), the starting point of which, for Cowie and Crawford (2007) was “the belief that principal preparation is a crucial aspect of school development and progression, and that programmes of preparation should have positive outcomes for those who undertake them” (p. 129), is a study involving researchers and recently appointed principals from Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Jamaica, Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey, the United States, and China. As Cowie and Crawford (2007) report the ISPP aims to “examine the utility of principal preparation programmes for novice principals in … different contexts, the differences and the similarities, and see what lessons…” (p.129-130) can be learnt from each context.

There is a very centralized educational system in Turkey, which is one of the research contexts of the ISPP. The Turkish Ministry of National Education (MoNE) paints the picture of educational landscape in schools (Aslan, Beycioglu & Konan, 2008). In line with the public administration structure in Turkey; all private and public schools and institutions at pre–primary, primary and secondary education levels are hierarchically affiliated to the province and district national education directorates which implement the resolutions adopted by the MoNE at local levels.

In line with the general structure of MoNE, school management in Turkey is centralized, too. Principals are responsible to local education directorates with respect to general functions and services of MoNE and centrally realized legislative arrangements at different levels. They are the school representative of central authority.  

Aslan, M., Beycioglu, K. & Konan, N. (2008). Principals’ openness to change in Malatya, Turkey. International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning, 12(8). Cowie, M. & Crawford, M. (2007). Principal preparation – still an act of faith? School Leadership and Management, 27, (2), 129-146. Wildy, H. & Clarke, S (2008). Piloting a cross-cultural survey of principal preparation: An Australian perspective. Paper presented at European Conference on Educational Research (ECER2008), From Teaching to Learning, 8-12 September, Gothenburg, Sweeden. Wildy, H., Clarke, S., Beycioglu, K. & Styles, I. (2009). Preparing novice principals in Australia and Turkey: How similar are their needs? Paper presented at European Conference on Educational Research (ECER2009), Theory and Evidence in European Educational Research, 25-30 September, Vienna, Austria.