OPINIONS OF PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS ON THE IMPACT OF APPOINTING PRINCIPALS FROM THE SPECIAL TALENT TEACHING FIELD ON TEACHER COMPETENCIES IN FINE ARTS AND SPORTS HIGH SCHOOLS (A CASE STUDY FROM THE EASTERN ANATOLIA REGION)

This study examined how appointing principals from special-talent fields to Fine Arts and Sports High Schools shaped school management and teachers’ professional work. A phenomenological design was used. The study group included 44 participants: 8 principals and 36 teachers from four Fine Arts High Schools and four Sports High Schools in Erzincan, Erzurum, Tunceli, and Bingöl. Participants were selected through criterion-based purposive sampling. Data were gathered through face-to-face semi-structured interviews, analysed thematically, and organised as codes, subthemes, and themes. Principal and teacher views were compared. The findings showed that principals from special-talent fields were seen as better able to understand school programmes, equipment needs, and the demands of social, cultural, artistic, and sporting activities. However, practices for improving physical conditions, maintaining student discipline, and identifying individual educational needs were not consistent across schools. Some practices depended more on teacher observations and local resources than on systematic assessment. Field alignment alone was therefore insufficient; it needed support from educational administration, instructional leadership, shared decision making, and communication skills. Principal appointments should assess field alignment together with management competence, individual educational-needs analyses should follow shared criteria, and support should reduce regional resource gaps. The results may guide administrator selection and school improvement in special-talent schools.