The weakness stated in strategic plans by primary schools and the solution suggestions to overcome these problems by the school principals and teachers' opinions

This research has two aims. The first purpose of this research is to reveal the weaknesses stated in the strategic plans of primary schools; the second purpose is solution suggestions taken from principals and teachers working in primary schools are stated in this study in order to eliminate these weaknesses. In the first stage of this research, the weaknesses stated in the strategic plans SWOT (Strengths, Weak, Opportunity, Threat) analysis of 39 primary schools in the center of Malatya are examined. These schools constitute 43% of schools in the city center of Malatya. In order to examine the strategic plans of these schools, the method of document review and document screening have been used in this research. The repeated items and the frequencies of them have been identified in the prepared screening lists.According to the outcomes of the first stage of this research; the school having an old physical structure and it needs to be repaired, the inadequacy of the physical structure and the garden of the school, the lack of a multi-purpose hall, the inadequacy of the library of the school, the inadequacy of teaching materials and technological devices, not reaching the desired level of social, cultural, educational and sporting activities, the inadequacy of the school servant in terms of quantity and quality, not having the required level of cooperation between the school and parents have been identified as the most highlighted weaknesses.In the second stage of this research, the weaknesses identified by examining the related literature and expert opinions are divided into five themes. These are the physical structures of the primary schools (1), tools and equipment used in the course of primary schools (2), social, cultural, educational and sporting activities held in primary schools (3), the human resources of primary schools (4), and the school-environment relations in the primary schools (5), entitled themes of weaknesses by bringing into question, these weaknesses have been asked to the school principals and teachers whether they are weaknesses or not and, the solution suggestions have been asked in order to overcome these weaknesses. 70 school principals and 240 teachers, including a total of 310 people have written solutions to the open-ended survey questions. The repeated items and the frequencies of them have been identified according to the solution suggestions indicated by the participants.According to the outcomes of the second stage of this research; the most majority of principals and teachers working in primary schools have confirmed the weaknesses stated in the strategic plans as the weaknesses of primary schools and they have identified the solution suggestions in order to overcome these weaknesses. According to them, the most repeated suggestions are as follows; the school must be larger than the allocated space and indoor sports hall should be built, the new building or annex should be built in order to have adequate and effective physical structure of the school. Teaching tools and equipment should be provided by the relevant authorities and should be adequate, budget should be allocated to the schools in order to have adequate and effective educational tools and materials. As for social, cultural and sporting activities; the physical fields should be adapted to the appropriate ones, the parent support should be provided by organizing awareness-raising activities for parents, the successful students should be rewarded by making them motivated, the teachers should be willing to be sensitive and believe in the importance of the activity. In order to have adequate and effective human resources; there should be cooperation and collaboration among the staff, the need of human resources should be solved through the purchase of services, the identified needs and the necessary appointments should be done, the distribution of tasks should be done equally and in a justice way, the number and quality of in-service training should be increased, the method of measuring should be effective in the appointment of principals and teachers, the aim-oriented and equipped staff should be employed, the school staff should love their occupations, be dedicated, responsible, have self-development and self-sacrificing. In order to have adequate and effective relations with the school environment; activities such as course, seminars, etc should be organized for the parents and the environment, the various institutions and organizations should be visited, the relations should be strengthened, the cooperation between the school and parents should be increased and there should be planned and permanent relationships. Not only in our country but also in all over the world, there have been and will continue to be some problems and deficiencies in all levels of education and primary schools. It is urgently important how we perceive these problems or deficiencies and what we can do in order to overcome them. Being aware of these problems or weaknesses is the most important power that we can have to overcome them. Having such awareness and development of strategies for this purpose can provide the weaknesses of the organization as strengths in the future. We can have different solution suggestions as regarded the way of our perception of these problems or weaknesses. While someone regards the event as right, the other can regard it as wrong. It is not possible to have the same thoughts in order to overcome the weaknesses or problems. However, what the majority of teachers and school principals working in the field of education think about these weaknesses or problems and the suggestions of the scientific studies should be taken into consideration. Keywords: The strategic plan of the school, SWOT analysis, weaknesses of the schools, solution suggestions of the principals and teachers.