The purpose of this study is to find out the problems that novice school principals faced in the first year of their career. Defining novice principals’ problems and their solutions to these problems are very important as the results will enlighten if the current principal training programs work effectively. It is believed that the school success is generally depended on the principal effectiveness. To be able to increase instructional quality, school principals are required to use different leadership skills. The image of aschools is generally associated with whether the school is managed well or not. In other words, school success or failure is directly related to principal’s achievement or failure. Training new principals as qualified principals require meticulously prepared pre-service and in-service principal training programs (Yirci  & Kocabas, 2010).

For a long time the effectiveness of principal training programs have been criticized as they fail to equip the new principals to the positon with the necessary knowledge and experience (Bottoms & O’Neill, 2001; Levine, 2005). Snow (2004: 10) also supports this idea and states that principal preparation programs have too much theory. They do not provide enough real-world problem-solving activities, cooperation with academics in the field, required level of communication skills.

 According to Fullan (2001:95) the roles of principals have changed greatly over the past decade. The responsibilities of principles have become dramatically more complex, overloaded and  unclear. They should be engaged as initiators or facilitators of continuous improvements in their schools. Similarly, Bottoms and O'Neill (2001), Mangin, (2007) state that in the past, principals were responsible to take the basic administrative decisions for school building, staff and students. However, the principal's role has changed to a leadership of a democratic education from the administrative responsibility. The responsibilities related to student learning and school development are undertaken by school principals. From students to school councils, from parents to policy makers, from teachers to local business owners, from servants to union officials, principals are responsible to work with these huge stakeholders. The  school principal has to make decisions and meet the expectations of the stakeholders. Meeting the expectations are very challenging as the schools now are subject to the impact of global changes. The advances in technology, globalization and its effects now finding their way into schools, and with schools becoming increasingly self-managing environments, pressure is inevitably placed on the principal when dealing with complex situations (Dempster & Berry, 2003; Taymaz, 2003: 23).

Our research question is what kinds of problems do novice school principals face in their first year of career and how do they solve these problems? The researchers also question the effectivenss of principal training programs according to principal perceptions. Training novice principals are highly important issue as the literature reveals that there is still dissatisfaction about the quality of the principal training problems in many countries. That’s why the results of the research will give an international perspective and help us to understand what should be done about better principal training programs.

Bottoms, G., & O’Neill, K. (2001). Preparing a new breed of school principals: It’s time for action. Atlanta, GA: Southern Regional Education Board Boyatzis, Richard E. 1998. Transforming Qualitative Information: Thematic Analysis and Code Development. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Dempster, N & Berry V (2003) Blindfolded in a Minefield:Principals’ Ethical Decision-making,Cambridge Journal of Education ,33(3), 457-478. Fullan, M. (2001). The New Meaning Of Educational Change. New York:.Teachers College Publishing. Levine, A. (2005). Educating school leaders. Washington, DC: The Education School Project Mangin, M.M. (2007). Facilitating Elementary Principals' Support for Instructional Teacher Leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 43, p. 319- 357. Taymaz, Haydar. Okul Yönetimi. Yedinci baskı. Ankara: Pegem A Yayıncılık,2003. Snow, A. L (2004). More Practical Advice for Principals. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Yirci, R., & Kocabas, I. (2010, April 4). The Importance of Mentoring for School Principals: A Conceptual Analysis. Retrieved from the Connexions Web site: http://cnx.org/content/m34197/1.1/