Problems and solutions provided by school managers in the management process functions: A qualitative analysis

The purpose of this study is to identify the problems faced by school principals in performing the functions of the school management process in 2019-2020 academic year and the solutions they have developed for these problems. The study group of the research carried out with a qualitative research approach is composed of 18 school principals working in kindergarten, primary school, middle school and high school located in the districts of Trabzon in the 2019-2020 academic year. The data were collected using a semi-structured interview form consisting of three sections as a result of the literature review and expert opinion. The data obtained were analyzed using content and descriptive analysis techniques. According to the findings obtained from the research data, it was found that the principals encountered problems in the fields of personnel services, school business services and education services within the scope of the management process functions. When the distribution of these problems is analyzed, "assignment, supervision and training of the personnel" in the field of personnel services; "financial impossibilities" in the field of school business services; In the field of education and training services, it has been observed that the issues of "teaching-monitoring and guidance" come to the fore. School principals stated that they could solve some of these problems they faced with their communication with teachers, students, parents, senior managers and the environment, but they could not find solutions for many problems such as "teacher appointment calendar, paid teacher assignment, school income". The development of school principals in these areas should be supported in order to produce more effective solutions to the problems faced especially in teacher training and education and training activities.