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The aim of this study is to identify the difficulties faced by school principals working in disadvantaged schools in order to raise students with 21st century skills and to ensure the continuity of school success, and to examine the effect of the role of school principal on teacher and student success. The study group includes 10 school principals from primary schools located in disadvantaged regions of Istanbul. In the study, a phenomenological qualitative research design was used and the snowball sampling method, a purposeful sampling method, was employed. In order to achieve the aim of the study, participants were asked the following questions: 1. What kind of problems do you encounter in your school? 2. What methods do you use to deal with the problems? 3. How do you support your teachers who cannot cope with their problems? 4.How do you support troubled students to cope with their problems? Through the study, several problems faced by the principals emerged: financial constraints, lack of commitment to the school, socio-economic structure of the school environment, and the socio-cultural structure of the school environment. The study also shows that to address these problems, school principals lead teachers' professional knowledge by displaying "correct communication", "resilience", "flexibility and positive thinking", and they try to create a positive school climate. In addition, it was determined that principals’ approach problematic students caringly, gaining their trust and trying to find solutions to their problems. Such an approach creates positive changes in teachers’ and students' attitudes and behaviors toward the school and increases academic success. The main finding in this study is that school principals' experiences in dealing with difficulties can be a guide to other colleagues in how to deal with difficulties.
