Political Discourses on School Principals in Written Questions to the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye

This study examines the circumstances and issues under which school principals are brought to the agenda of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (GNAT-TBMM) through written parliamentary questions. The research problem focuses on how structural issues related to school principals’ job descriptions, employment rights, appointment, and evaluation processes are represented in the parliamentary agenda. Conducted using a qualitative research approach, the data were collected during the Spring semester of the 2024-2025 academic year. In the data collection process, 232 written questions submitted to the GNAT between 1999 and 2025 were analyzed through document analysis and thematic coding, resulting in the identification of 14 distinct themes. The findings indicate that the questions most frequently clustered under the themes of “Ethical and Legal Responsibilities,” “Appointment and Reassignment Processes,” and “Dismissal,” while “Financial Rights” and “Psychosocial Conditions” were represented at a lower level. The distribution of parliamentary questions by political party revealed that opposition parties submitted significantly more questions, with a notable increase in the number of questions observed between 2014 and 2018. These findings are associated with factors such as political polarization, changes in managerial appointment regulations, and union competition.