In this section, the duties and responsibilities of the personnel in the management of schools will be explained and the criteria for their appointment and conditions of service will be emphasized.

Appointments and Assignments

In Türkiye, administrators of educational institutions are appointed within the framework of the Regulation on the Selection and Appointment of Administrators for Educational Institutions under the Ministry of National Education (MoNE). The purpose of this Regulation is to regulate the procedures and principles regarding the appointment of administrators in official educational institutions affiliated to MoNE. The Regulation on Selection and Appointment of Administrators for Educational Institutions reorganizes the appointment of administrators (principals, deputy principals) of formal and non-formal education schools/ institutions affiliated with MoNE. According to the Regulation, it is explained under separate headings for each title.

General Requirements for Administrator

Those who will be appointed as administrators of educational institutions must be graduates of higher education, work as a teacher in MoNE staff and have an Educational Management Certificate. Candidates must be successful in the written and oral exams specified in the regulation, must be qualified to be appointed as a teacher in the educational institution to which they will be assigned, and must not have been dismissed from the position of administrator as a result of a judicial or administrative investigation within the last four years. In addition, they must have completed or postponed their compulsory service obligation or be exempted from compulsory service obligation. Candidates to be appointed as administrators of educational institutions with special status are not required to have been previously appointed as a teacher in the relevant educational institutions.

Special Conditions Required for Appointment as Head Teachers

Candidates who wish to be appointed as a principal must have previously served as a principal, be a teacher in the MoNE staff or have held a position as a branch manager or higher. In addition, special branch based requirements have been set for some educational institutions. For example, those to be appointed as principals in science high schools must be teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry or biology; in social sciences high schools, they must be teachers of Turkish language and literature, history, geography, philosophy, psychology or foreign language. For imam hatip high schools, candidates must be imam hatip high school vocational courses teachers, while for kindergartens they must be pre-primary teachers and for primary schools they must be classroom teachers. If there are not enough candidates in the required branches, other branches may be assigned.

Conditions for Appointment as Deputy Head

In order to be appointed as a vice-principal, candidates must have previously served as a principal, founding principal, vice-principal or teacher authorized to be a principal, or have held a branch manager or higher position in MoNE, or have been a teacher for at least two years.

First Time Appointment as Administrator and Application Process

Vacant managerial positions are announced on the websites of provincial directorates of national education. Candidates who are successful in the oral exam can apply for only one position and can prefer a maximum of 20 educational institutions. The scores of the candidates to be appointed for principalship are calculated by taking into account 50% of the written exam score, 30% of the score obtained as a result of the evaluation and 20% of the score obtained as a result of the oral exam. In case of equal scores, the written exam score, evaluation score, oral exam score, length of service as a manager and teaching service score are taken into consideration respectively.

Reassignment as an Administrator

Administrators whose term of office has expired may be assigned to another educational institution deemed appropriate. A maximum of eight years can be served as an administrator in the same educational institution. Candidates who wish to be reappointed as principal or deputy principal are scored according to the administrator evaluation form. During the reappointment process, administrators working in certain branches are given the advantage of additional points.

Principles of Administrator Appointment

Administrators are appointed for a four-year term and can serve in the same educational institution for a maximum of eight years. Girls’ boarding schools and institutions with female students must have at least one female principal. In addition, at least one female vice-principal must be appointed to co-educational schools with three or more vice-principals. When appointing administrators to special education institutions, experience in the field of special education is required. If the need for administrators cannot be met, firstly, appointments are made from among the existing administrators.

Administrator Appointments to Educational Institutions Implementing Special Programs and Projects

Administrator and teacher appointments to special program and project schools are made in accordance with the Law on the Teaching Profession and the Regulation on the Appointment of Teachers and Administrators to Educational Institutions Implementing Special Programs and Projects affiliated to the Ministry of National Education. Administrators to be appointed to such educational institutions must meet the special conditions specified in the relevant legislation.

Application Requirements and Term of Office

Candidates to be appointed as administrators in educational institutions affiliated to MoNE must meet certain conditions. In this context, the general and special conditions expected from the candidates in the applications for administrator-ship are stated below.

General Application Requirements

Those to be appointed as administrators must be working as teachers according to the Civil Servants Law. Administrators to be assigned to project schools must be qualified to be appointed as a teacher to the same type of school or institution in accordance with the school type. In addition, as of the last day of the application, they must not have been dismissed from their administrative positions as a result of any judicial or administrative investigation within the last four years. For those who will be appointed to project schools other than the places where compulsory service obligation is foreseen, they must have completed, postponed or exempted from the compulsory service obligation according to the relevant legislation.

Conditions for Appointment as Head Teacher

Candidates to be appointed as principals must meet at least one of the special conditions specified in the regulation. They must have previously served or be currently serving as a principal in schools or institutions, have served as a deputy principal for at least two years, or have served as a founding principal, deputy principal or assistant principal for at least three years in total. In addition, those who have served as a branch manager or a higher position within the MoNE can also apply for the position of director.

 There are additional branch requirements for candidates to be appointed as principals for some educational institutions. For vocational and technical secondary education institutions, candidates must be a workshop, laboratory or vocational courses teacher. For special education institutions, candidates must be special education teachers; for science high schools, they must be mathematics, physics, chemistry or biology teachers; for social sciences high schools, they must be Turkish language and literature, history, geography, philosophy, psychology or foreign language teachers. Principals appointed to fine arts high schools must be visual arts/painting or music teachers, while principals appointed to sports high schools must be physical education teachers.

Conditions for Appointment as Assistant Principal

Candidates to be appointed as vice-principals must have previously served or be currently serving as a principal, founding principal, assistant principal or vice-principal, or have served as a branch manager or higher position within the MoNE. Candidates to be appointed as vice-principals in imam hatip high schools are limited to institutions with an imam hatip middle school and provided that there are at least two vice-principal norms, one of the vice-principals must be selected from among middle school teachers.

 The principal and at least one of the assistant principals of project schools with all female students and at least one of the assistant principals of project schools with female boarding students must be appointed from among female candidates. In addition, in project schools with three or more assistant principals and co educational schools, at least one of the assistant principals must be selected from among female candidates.

Tenure of Teachers and Administrators

Teachers are appointed for four years and administrators are appointed for four years. Teachers or administrators with the same title cannot work in the same project school for more than eight years. At the end of this period, teachers and administrators must be assigned to different educational institutions. 

Within the framework of these principles, administrator appointments to educational institutions are carried out within the scope of the specified legislation and the applications of candidates who meet the relevant conditions will be evaluated.

Duties, Authorities and Responsibilities

The duties, authorities and responsibilities of school administrators have been determined in line with the Ministry of National Education’s Law on Teaching Profession, Regulation on Pre-Primary Education and Primary Education Institutions and Regulation on Secondary Education Institutions. In this context, school principals, vice principals and authorized teachers are obliged to fulfill certain duties.

Duties, Authorities and Responsibilities of the School Head

Pre-primary and primary education institutions are managed by the school principal in line with the provisions of the relevant legislation. The school principal is responsible for student affairs, education and training activities, administration, personnel management, financial affairs, movable property management, correspondence, educational and social activities, boarding, scholarship, transportation, security, nutrition, care, maintenance, protection, cleaning, order, watch services, public relations and the duties assigned within the scope of the MoNE School-Parent Association Regulation. They also ensure that other duties assigned by MoNE and provincial/district directorates of national education are carried out. 

In addition, the school principal is responsible for taking the necessary measures to ensure that students use cell phones and digital devices with recording features in accordance with the rules in educational environments. He/she supervises the implementation of the education and training programs adopted by the Ministry of National Education and ensures that activities are carried out in accordance with these programs.

Duties, Authorities and Responsibilities of the Assistant Director

The assistant director deputizes the school principal in his/her absence and is the person primarily responsible for school management after the principal. In addition to fulfilling the responsibilities in the job description, the deputy principal is also responsible for carrying out the duties assigned to him/her by the school principal.

Duties, Authorities and Responsibilities of the Principals Authorized Teacher

In primary schools without an independent directorate, one of the classroom teachers is assigned as an authorized teacher. The authorized teacher assumes the duties, powers and responsibilities of the school principal and is responsible for the management of the school in accordance with the provisions of the relevant regulation.

Principal, Vice Principal and Other Administrator Duties According to the Regulation on Upper Secondary Education Institutions

According to the MoNE Regulation on Secondary Education Institutions, the duties of school principals, vice principals and assistant principals are defined in the relevant regulation. Within the scope of this regulation, school administrators are responsible for various tasks such as planning, conducting and supervising educational activities, managing student disciplinary processes, managing the financial affairs of the school, organizing and developing educational environments. 

Accordingly, school administrators are obliged to fulfill the duties assigned to them within the scope of the legislation in order to ensure the effective and efficient management of educational institutions, to improve the quality of education and to maintain the educational processes of students in the best way.