<p>This study investigated the relationship between school administrators' paternalistic leadership behaviors and pre-school teachers' job satisfaction. The relational survey model was used in the research. The population of the study consists of 575 pre-school teachers working in 81 schools in Batman province during the 2019-2020 academic year. Sampling was not used due to the lack of a good number of teachers in the research population. The "Paternalistic Leadership Behaviors Scale" and the "Job Satisfaction Scale" were used in the study. In the statistical analysis of the data, frequency and percentage, standard deviation, arithmetic mean, independent sample t-test, ANOVA test, LSD test, and correlation and regression analysis techniques were used. As a result of the research, there was a positive, moderate-level, and significant relationship between the family atmosphere and job satisfaction, a positive, moderate-level, and significant relationship between benevolence and job satisfaction, a negative, low-level, and significant relationship between authoritarianism and job satisfaction, a negative, low-level, and significant relationship between interventionism and job satisfaction, and a negative, moderate-level, and significant relationship between inadequacy and job satisfaction. As a result of research, it was concluded that the paternalistic leadership in the dimensions of authoritarianism, interventionism, and inadequacy had a negative effect on teachers' job satisfaction levels, and the behaviors in the family atmosphere and benevolence dimensions had a positive effect on teachers' job satisfaction levels. All dimensions of paternalistic leadership explain about 26% of the total variance in teachers' job satisfaction in general.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0794/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>