Investigation of the relationship between primary school administrators' administrator anxiety levels and meaningful job perception

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the anxiety levels of primary school administrators and their perception of meaningful work. The study population consists of primary school administrators working in Hatay. The sample of the research consists of 180 primary school administrators working in official primary schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in Hatay province and its districts during the 2023-2024 academic year. Data were collected through the "Administrator Anxiety Scale" developed by Şahin C. (2011), the "Meaningful Work Scale" developed by Göçen and Terzi (2019), and the "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researcher to determine the demographic characteristics of the participants. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS software package. Frequency and percentage values, t-test, ANOVA, and correlation analysis methods were used to analyze the data. According to the findings obtained from the research, it was concluded that the anxiety levels of female administrators, married administrators, assistant principal administrators and head teachers working in primary schools were significantly higher than others. It was concluded that the anxiety levels of primary school administrators decreased as their age, professional seniority and tenure in management increased. It was found that the anxiety levels of primary school administrators did not differ significantly according to the variables of level of education, faculty graduated from, place of residence where they work, tenure in the current school, the education type of the school and the number of students and staff of the school. It was concluded that the anxiety levels of the participants were generally high. It was found that the meaningful work perceptions of primary school administrators do not significantly differ according to gender, age, the faculty graduated from, title, professional seniority, and the number of students and staff at the school. In the job meaning sub-dimension of the scale, the meaningful work perceptions of married administrators, administrators with postgraduate education, and administrators working in the city center were found to be significantly high. In the job relationships sub-dimension, the meaningful work perceptions of assistant principals were found to be significantly high. In the job transcendence sub-dimension, the meaningful work perceptions of administrators with 13 years or more of managerial duties were found to be significantly high compared to administrators with 5-8 years of managerial duties. It was found that the meaningful work perceptions of administrators who have worked at their current school for the first 4 years are significantly high in the job meaning, job transcendence, and job humility sub-dimensions and the total scale. It was found that the meaningful work perceptions of primary school administrators working in schools with dual education are significantly high in the job relationships and job meaning leadership sub-dimensions and the total scale. The general meaningful work perceptions of the participants were found to be high. There was no relationship found between the anxiety levels and meaningful work perceptions of primary school administrators working in primary schools. Keywords: Primary school administrators, administrator anxiety, perception of meaningful work