The investigation of the effect of teachers' perceptions of organizational justice on their job satisfaction in special education practice schools through a phenomenological approach

The aim of this study is to improve the service quality of special education schools by examining the relationship between organizational justice and job satisfaction based on the experiences of teachers and administrators in the work-based special education schools. The data of this study, which was conducted in the phenomenological design of qualitative research, were obtained from 3 school administrators working in state-affiliated special education practice schools in Selçuklu, Meram, Karatay districts in Konya province center and a total of 30 teachers, 10 from each of these schools. The experiences of the participants regarding justice and job satisfaction were determined with a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher. The data were analyzed through descriptive analysis. Based on words, phrases and sentences, the data were classified into four dimensions: i) psychological, ii) professional, iii) social and iv) working conditions. Matrices were used to analyze the relationship between organizational justice and job satisfaction by using the above-mentioned dimensions. In addition, analysis based on cause-effect relationship was carried out. In addition, qualitative data were quantified through graded scaling. According to the findings of the study, there is a fair working environment in special education practice schools. Appreciation of their efforts, fair distribution of tasks, good social relations and lack of discrimination increase their job satisfaction. However, low salaries, some inadequacies in working conditions and lack of support from parents have a negative impact on job satisfaction. Almost all of the school administrators and teachers stated that appreciation increased job satisfaction. At the end of the study, a model was developed based on the findings. With secondary abstraction, it was visualized how the administrators in special education practice schools can affect the job satisfaction of teachers with the components of organizational justice. In order to increase the satisfaction of teachers, school administrators in the special education practice schools should appreciate them for their achievements, take their opinions in decision-making processes, make decisions together, be fair and impartial in the distribution of tasks, meet the requests of employees regarding materials and physical environment, establish sincere and open communication, share information with everyone without discrimination and be transparent to everyone.