The Relationship Between School Satisfaction Levels and Academic Achievement of University Students: The Example of Science Teaching

In order to meet the demand for higher education in our country, an environment of competition between universities has emerged as a result of the increase in the number of private and state universities in recent years. In this competitive environment, universities come to the fore with the opportunities they offer to students as well as quality education in order to be preferred by students. With the increase in the need for qualified, trained students in the global world, it is seen that the investment made in universities, the quality of education and the interest in satisfaction studies also increase. Since the graduates of universities that accept students with higher scores in the university exam and are thought to provide quality education services are considered more qualified, such universities can provide easier employment opportunities. For this reason, students are expected to prefer universities that are thought to provide quality education more. There are many factors that determine the university preferences of students. Among these, there are factors such as the academic success of the university, its campus, student life, job opportunities of graduates, and opportunities within the departments. In this context, it is assumed that students will choose a university that suits their career goals and personal preferences (Egelioğlu and et al., 2011:15). Student satisfaction is accepted as an important data in terms of the quality of undergraduate education given by universities (Uygur and Yelken 2017:2). Because satisfaction that students receive from education is considered as an indicator of the quality of the educational institution. For this reason, most universities pay attention to regularly conducting satisfaction surveys to evaluate their efforts in quality improvement processes and to improve their service quality. For universities that care about quality in education, it is important how students are evaluated. Student assessments are not the only source of information in determining the quality of education, but they provide useful information. Although there are many studies on the concepts of student satisfaction and academic success (Altaş, 2021; Alver, 2005; Şahin et al., 2011; Naralan and Kaleli, 2012; Burgaz and Ekinci, 2007; Jafarova and Demirtaş, 2020) there are few studies examining the relationship between these two concepts both in our country and in the world literature (Egelioğlu et al., 2011; Koç and Arkan, 2021; Edraki et al., 2011; Samdal et al., 1999). For this reason, in this study, it was desired to investigate the relationship between prospective science teachers' levels of satisfaction with school and their academic achievements. For this reason, it was desired to seek answers to some research questions. These are: 1) Is there a significant relationship between pre-service science teachers' level of satisfaction with school and their academic achievement? 2) How academically successful are the pre-service science teachers? 3) What is the level of satisfaction of pre-service science teachers from school? Relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the research. In the relational screening model, it is tried to determine whether the variables change depending on each other and if there is a change, how it happens (Karasar, 2012:79). The universe of this study consists of students studying Science Education at Bursa Uludağ University. The participants of the study consisted of 105 teacher candidates studying at Bursa Uludağ University Faculty of Education Science Teaching Department in the 2021-2022 academic year. The "A Student Satisfaction Scale" which was developed by Tatar (2017:218) was used as a data collection tool to determine the satisfaction levels of prospective science teachers at school. The scale consists of 7 parts: the physical conditions of the university, the infrastructure of the university, the library facilities of the university, the courses and course contents, the characteristics of the academic staff teaching the course, the characteristics of the university staff other than the academic staff teaching the course, and the student profile. There are a total of 100 items in 7 sections of the scale. In answering each item; Likert type 5-point measurement option was used as “1-Not at all satisfied, 2-Not satisfied, 3-No idea, 4-Somewhat satisfied, 5-Very satisfied”. The reliability coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.97 by Tatar et al. However, in this study, the reliability coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.96. The academic achievement scores of the science teacher candidates were obtained from the student information system as of the 2021-2022 fall semester, after all the grades of the previous semester were entered. In the study, the data were evaluated according to the SPSS 28.0 package program. Students' academic achievement and satisfaction were interpreted with descriptive statistics. In the study, quantitative data collected with the help of the satisfaction scale and academic achievement scores were subjected to normality tests. Kolmogrov - Smirnov test applied data were found to be in accordance with normal distribution (Satisfaction: p=0.2, p>0.05; GPA: p=0.102, p>0.05). Pearson correlation analysis was applied to determine the relationship between the two. In this study, which was conducted to examine the relationship between the academic achievement scores of science teacher candidates and their satisfaction with school, no statistically significant relationship was found between students' school satisfaction and academic achievement scores. In order to increase the level of satisfaction in the quality of education, training and the management style of the college to maintain its continuity; meetings should be held with the students, academic and administrative staff of all classes, where student complaints about the school's purpose, philosophy, mission, vision, the introduction of the instructors, orientation and cohesion, opinions about the curriculum and management style are heard and their expectations are determined, and scientific and social activities that will increase cooperation should be organized