Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that affect the level of job satisfaction that school principals experience and, based on the findings, to suggest policies or techniques for improving it. Design/methodology/approach: Questionnaires were administered to 180 primary school heads in 13 prefectures--one from each of the 13 Greek regions (including the metropolitan area: prefecture of Attiki, Athens) so that the sample would be representative of the whole country. The first section of the questionnaire includes the location of each respondent's school as well as personal and professional characteristics of the primary school teachers, while the second section asked school principals to reply to 36 statements that expressed perceptions relating to their level of job satisfaction. These responses yielded the principal components for factor analysis. Findings: The results indicate that two factors--the role of superior and school heads' remuneration, and recognition of the principals' efforts--which account for 33.27 per cent of the total sample, seem to be particularly important for school heads' job satisfaction. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this study cannot be used to generalize about the whole Greek education system as it only analyzes a small sample. Therefore, analysis of additional data from school principals may be necessary for comparison and to reaffirm the results. Further investigation is also needed in order to isolate the specific elements and significant differences in school heads' satisfaction ratings. Practical implications: This paper would be useful to educational planners and policy makers. Meeting the school principals' needs and expectations seems to be a basic component in effective school leadership. As the school principal's role is directly related to human resources management (teachers) and subsequently to child development, the issue of a head's job satisfaction becomes even more pressing. Originality/value: Given that the existing Greek literature on school management does not contain a substantially detailed discussion specifically on school heads' job satisfaction, this paper may contribute decisively to the smoother and more efficient operation of the school unit. (Contains 1 table.)