The Effect of Teachers’ Expectations on Job Satisfaction and Motivation in Private and Public Schools

Motivation can be defined as directing personnel towards organizational goals and serving a person’s expectations and needs. If school principals are clear about motivating factors, they can motivate their personnel effectively. The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of various aspects of teachers’ expectations on their job satisfaction and motivation. With this aim, a Likert-type scale was developed and applied by the researcher to the teacher groups. The findings of this study reveal that the principal’s attitude and behaviour positively affected teachers’ job satisfaction and motivation at private schools while teachers seldom agreed with this opinion in public schools. Nevertheless, teachers thought positively in private schools in comparison with teachers in public schools regarding sufficiency of the workplace environment and the reputation of the schools. Both the teachers in private and public schools expressed their opinion that their job gives them the chance to evaluate their performance and that they can achieve their aims while performing their duties; however, teachers stated that they were under stress while performing their duties in private schools.