Abstract
The current study aimed to determine the willingness of school principals to serve as school principal in BILSEMs, their perspective of serving as a principal in these institutions, and the difficulties they think they may encounter based on the opinions of school principals who work in different institutions and have not worked in BILSEMs before. In the study, the case study design, one of the qualitative research methods, was employed to examine social and human phenomena in their natural environments in detail. The study group comprises 12 school principals who work as principals in state institutions other than BILSEMslocated in the provinces of Bingöl, Tokat, and Istanbul and who have not previously worked as principals in BILSEMs. The research data were collected using the semi-structured interview technique and voice recording over the phone. In the study, it was concluded that the participants agree that BILSEM principals should be appointed with a written exam within the framework of specific criteria, that priority should be given to those who received graduate education in appointments, that school principals should be innovative, open to change, able to use technology, willing to prepare projects and have leadership characteristics. In light of the findings of the study, the following suggestions can be made: Principals should be appointed to BILSEMs after serving as an assistant principal in a BILSEM for a certain period, they should be trained by undergoing a one-year in-service training and appointments should be made by adhering to a performance-oriented process beside the written exam.
| Keywords: | School principal Science and art centre (BILSEM) Appointment criteria |