The impact of school culture on job satisfaction of social studies teachers in private and public schools

The concept of school culture consists of norms, expectations, attitudes, and beliefs shared by school members. Job satisfaction, on the other hand, is the emotional state reached by analyzing all aspects of one's job. The satisfaction or dissatisfaction experienced by an individual regarding their job is shaped by the school culture. At this point, it is seen that school culture and job satisfaction are interrelated. This study aims to investigate the effect of school culture on job satisfaction of social studies teachers working in private and public schools. Each school has its own climate and is different from each other in all aspects. Therefore, the effect of the school culture concept, which is expected to differentiate between private and public schools, on teachers' job satisfaction has been studied. The study was designed using the qualitative research method, and the phenomenology research design was used among qualitative research designs. The data were obtained through semi-structured interview forms created by the researcher. The study group of the research consists of 19 social studies teachers working in private and public schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in Milas district of Muğla province and Ayvalık district of Balıkesir province. Ten of these teachers work in public schools and nine of them work in private schools. The sample of the study was determined as appropriate sampling method. The data obtained from the research were analyzed through content analysis method. Teachers working in private schools expressed that the strong aspect of their school is giving more initiative to teachers. Teachers working in public schools explain the strong aspect of their schools with the quality of the teachers. Teachers working in private schools state that the weak aspects of their schools are student profiles, teacher workload, and teacher pay. Teachers working in public schools have explained the physical inadequacies of the school, low socio-economic status, and parent profile.