The relationship between favoritistic behaviors of kindergarten principals and teachers' motivations

In this study, This research aims to determine the relationship between the favoritism behaviors exhibited by school administrators and the motivations of teachers, according to the perceptions of teachers working in kindergartens. The research was designed in the relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods. The study population of the research consists of 400 kindergarten teachers working in 30 kindergartens in Elazığ city center in the 2023-2024 academic year. Since the number in the population was reachable, no sample was used; an attempt was made to reach the entire study population. Two separate scales were used in the research. These are "nepotism scale in school management and teacher motivation scale". Since the data showed normal distribution, parametric tests were used to analyze the data. According to the results of the research, kindergarten teachers' perceptions of the favoritism behaviors exhibited by school principals are at the level of "sometimes", and their motivation levels are at the level of "Most of the time". Teachers' perceptions of "Nepotism in School Administration" do not make a significant difference according to the gender variable, in terms of age variable, teachers who are 30 and over are compared to teachers in their 20s, teachers with 16-19 years of service are compared to teachers with 1-5 years of service, and teachers with 1-5 years of service are compared to teachers in their 20s, in terms of school type variable. According to the variable of working time with the same manager, teachers working in kindergartens have higher perceptions of favoritism than teachers working with the same manager for 1-5 years, and teachers' motivations are at the "Most of the time" level. It has been determined that teachers working in public kindergartens have lower motivation than teachers working in private kindergartens, depending on the type of school where teachers work. It was determined that there was a negative and low level relationship between the perceptions of "Nepotism in School Administration" and "Teacher Motivation" of the kindergarten teachers who participated in the research.