The learning leadership role of principals in building a learning organization

The main objective of this study is to determine the learning leadership roles of principals in building a learning organization. With this in mind, the structure, functions, characteristics of a learning organization and organizational learning were explained; the specifications of a learning school which is a reflection of a learning organization in education and the roles of principals in a learning school were examined in detail. Tried to reveal the present situation as it is by searching thoroughly Turkish and other literature, this is a descriptive study. In a nutshell, the findings of the study are: The learning organization leader establishes the vision of the organization together with the members of the organization; is open to innovation, positive in his criticism and evaluates any criticism unprejudicedly; is a continuous learner and becomes a model for members of his organization; has system thinking; realizes the relationships between actions and doesn?t find fault in humans but accuses the system itself. One of the prerequisites of turning a school into a learning organization is the learning school culture. Today, the school needs to be a ?learning school? rather than a ?teaching school?. The learning school provides the teachers with necessary time to share professional applications; desires its students to learn and does not try to teach them. The learning leader guarantees trust and support for his employees longing for learning; is the starter key to learning school. The learning school is not a ready-made structure and does not appear overnight; it is a management approach and can be gradually realized. The new title of a learning leader at school is ?CLO?, Chief learning Officer. The learning leader has roles such as visionary, change agent, educational leader, modeler and administrator. Some suggestions to practitioners: Principals must reveal and develop the ?hidden power? of his employees; take failures as chances and make use of them; create a learning culture in their schools. Principals must encourage new thoughts and support taking risk. Some suggestions to researchers: The roles of National Ministry of Education, the city educational directorship and teachers in building a learning school can be studied. Also, it can be studied to what extent principals on duty can fulfill the roles of a learning leader.