The effect of school principals' motivation skills on teachers' job satisfaction (Vocational high schools case)

This study focused on whether there is a statistically significant relationship between the motivational skills of school principals working in vocational high schools and the job satisfaction of teachers. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the motivation skills of school principals and the job satisfaction perceptions of teachers working in vocational high schools. The research was conducted in the relational survey model, which one of the quantitative research methods. The study group of the research consisted of 424 teachers, was determined by using convenient sampling method among the vocational high school teachers working in public schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in Ordu province in the 2023-2024 academic year. The data was collected through the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Scale and the Motivation Scale for Teachers. The data was analysed by using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation) techniques as well as t-test for independent groups, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine the difference between scores of more than two groups. In addition, correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between school principals' motivational skills and teachers' job satisfaction. Moreover, simple linear regression analysis was used to determine the level of school principals' motivational skills predicting teachers' job satisfaction. The results of the research reveal that the motivation skills of school principals are at a high level and the job satisfaction of teachers is at a moderate level. There was no statistically significant difference between the teachers' job satisfaction scores in terms of the participants' gender, branch, education, location of the school, and length of time working with the school principal. A high level of correlation was determined between the motivation skills of school principals and teachers' job satisfaction scores. In addition, the motivation skills of school principals predict teachers' job satisfaction at a moderate level. Based on these results, it may be said that the motivational skills of school principals working in vocational high schools increase the job satisfaction of teachers. It may also be recommended that school principals take teachers' motivation into consideration in their administrative decisions and actions. Qualitative research design studies can be conducted to deeply analyse the factors that positively or negatively affect the job satisfaction perceptions of teachers working in vocational and technical education schools.