Analysing the job satisfaction levels of school counselors in terms of their professional development efforts

The main objective of the research is to analyze the job satisfaction levels of the school counselors according to demographic and occupational characteristics and to determine the relationship between job satisfaction levels and professional development efforts. In addition to this objective, it has been aimed to determine the training fields which school counselors take within the scope of professional development and are considered as beneficial. A descriptive and correlational survey model have been used in the research. The participants of the research consisted of 345 school counselors, 264 of which are women (76.5%) and 81 of which are men (23.5%) working in Kocaeli province in the 2018-2019 academic year. As data collection tools; the Job Satisfaction Scale, School Counselors Professional Development Effort Scale and Demographic and Vocational Information Form were used. In the analysis of the data, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis H test were used to examine the job satisfaction levels of the school counselors according to their demographic and vocational characteristics, and Spearman Brown's rank correlation coefficient technique was used to examine the relationship between job satisfaction levels and their professional development efforts. Moreover, descriptive analysis methods such as number and percentage ratios were used in order to determine the fields of training received within the scope of professional development. As a result of the research, it has been demonstrated that the job satisfaction levels of the school counselors who were graduated from the undergraduate programs other programs were higher than pyschological counseling and the department of Psychology, who received postgraduate education, who have served for two years or less, who give education to fewer students, who are women, were significantly. A moderate and positive relationship has been revealed between the job satisfaction level of school counselors and their professional development efforts. It has been concluded that the fields of training in which the school counselors participated for the purpose of the professional development, from the most to the least; are crisis psychology and management, psychotherapy approaches, family education programs, personal development education, student recognition tests, and career counseling. Based on their personal statements, the fields of training that school counselors stated from which they benefited the most, have been determined as follows; trainings relevant to the special education, mother-child education and father support programs, and family education programs. Key Words: School Counselor, Job Satisfaction, Professional development effort,