The Challenges that Special Education School Principals Face: The Case of Türkiye

Abstract

This article addresses the challenges that special education school principals face in Türkiye. The literature indicated that there are a variety of challenges that impact school principals and school management. Most of these challenges were based on school personnel. Shortage and attrition of Special Education (SPED) teachers, lack of teaching and knowledge on teaching students with disabilities, some work-related challenges, and lack of collaboration and advocacy among school staff were the challenges indicated in the literature. There are few Turkish studies that explore the challenges that SPED school administrators face. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore what challenges Turkish SE school principals face and whether these challenges are different from those reported in the literature. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 12 school principals. The results of this study indicated that some challenges that Turkish SPED principals have been facing were consistent with the literature, while others were not indicated in the literature. Implications for practice and directions for future research are presented.