Views of school principals on their motivation to become administrators and how their expectations were met

The purpose of this study was to explore the school principals' motivation to become school administrators and to examine how their expectations were met. The study was designed with the phenomenology design of qualitative research methods. The study group consists of 33 school principals working in public kindergartens, primary, secondary and high schools in Ataşehir, Beykoz, Çekmeköy, Kadıköy, Pendik, Ümraniye and Üsküdar districts of Istanbul during the 2021-2022 school year. The data for the study was collected through a semi-structured interview form and analyzed by content analysis. The study revealed that intrinsic motivators such as leadership skills, desire to make difference, administration knowledge and experience, a wide area of impact and positive impact on children were the main reasons for deciding to be a school principal. The participants were most influenced by their negative administrator experiences as external motivational sources. It was also found that the influence and encouragement of the environment, the demand of senior administrators and the perception of teaching as feminine profession played an important role in pursuing school principalship. As a result of the research, it was concluded that the expectations of the majority of the school principals were not met. Factors related to rights and responsibilities such as excessive workload, responsibilities and overtime, insufficient financial income and lack of job security played an important role in not achieving the expectations of school principals. The findings indicated that the school principals had authority problems due to their limited authority, insufficient school funding and bureaucratic obstacles. Parental complaints, indifferent parents, not being appreciated and respected, which were identified as barriers stemming from parents and society, have led to the failure to meet expectations. It was found that the participants found teachers' work motivation low and though that some teachers were professionally inadequate. Finally, it was revealed that the pressure, discrimination and favoritism and wrong decisions by the senior management led to disappointment in school principals. Key Words: School principal, school administration, principalship motivation