The relationship between political tactics in schools and teachers' level of adherence to the psychological contract

This study aims to determine the relationship between political tactics in schools and teachers' level of adherence to the psychological contract. In line with this main purpose, an answer to the question '"Is there a significant relationship between teachers' perceptions of political tactics in school and their level of adherence to the psychological contract?" is being searched. The research was carried out in relational survey model. The population of the research consists of 2798 teachers working in Uşak in the 2021-2022 academic year. 350 primary, secondary and high school teachers constitute the sample of the study, which was selected with the easily accessible sampling method. The research data have been collected with "Political Tactics Scale" and "Teacher's Level of Adherence to the Psychological Contract Scale". The data have been analyzed with independent samples t-Test, One-way Analysis of Variance (One Way Anova) Pearson Product-Moment Coefficient and Multiple Regression Analysis. According to the results of the research, perceptions of teachers towards realization of political tactics at school are low. The research also reveals that the perceptions of teachers towards realization of some political tactics at school differ significantly according to the variable of the level of school, the number of teachers at their school and professional seniority, but they don't differ significantly according to the variables of gender, the duration of their employment in the same school , their education level. Teachers' perception level towards adherence to the psy-chological contract is high. Teachers' level of adherence to the psychological contract differs according to level of school, professional seniority and their education level; it doesn't gendeer, the duration of their employment in the same school and the number of teachers at the school they work. There is medium level negative correlation between perceptions of teachers towards realization of political tactics at school and their level of adherence to the psychological contract. Perceptions of teachers towards realization of networking, coalition building and increasing indispensability in schools decrease teachers' level of adherence to the psychological contract. In order to prevent the negative effects of politic tactics,managerial transparency can be applied by the school administration. Key words: Political tactics, political games, psychological contract