Problems Faced by Novice School Principals and Ways to Overcome them in Public Schools in Northern West Bank as Perceived by the School Principals Themselves

Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate the problems facing novice principals and ways to overcome them in the government schools in the northern West Bank from their points of view, also the study aims to identify the role of the variables (gender, academic qualification, experience, school level, school location, number of training courses, district, school type) on problems facing novice principals and ways to overcome them in the government schools in the northern West Bank from their points of view. Furthermore, to identify suggestions that could solve these problems. The study population consisted of all novice principals in the in the governorates of the northern West Bank, which consisted of (288) according to Statistics department in Ministry of Education for year 2011\2010. The study adopted the analytical descriptive methodology, to collect the study data, a questionnaire was developed and validated via experts in the field of the study. The questionnaire consisted of three parts: the first collected demographic data, the second part was composed of items that define the problems that respondents face, while the third part contained an open questions for any suggestions that could help in overcoming problems , data has been processing via the Statistical packet for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results of the study revealed a group of problems that novice principals face from their point of view, results showed that the highest field was in the problems related to the field technology and educational means, while the lowest field was in the problems related to the student’s domain. Based on the study results, the researcher recommends in Developing a clear job descriptions for principals , so that they know the nature of the duties that must be addressed. Also, to conduct educational workshops, to educate novice principals to the concept of the problems solving that may face them. Finally, to conduct training sessions and meetings of the novice school principals to equip them with skills in problem-solving methods which could reflect on their performance.