The Examination of the Relationship Between Teacher Autonomy and Teacher Leadership through Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relationship between teacher autonomy and teacher leadership. With this purpose in mind, a predictive correlational research method, was adopted. The study was carried out with 571 teachers who were determined through a simple random sampling technique among those working in Turkey during the 2020-2021 academic year. The Teacher Autonomy Scale developed by Çolak & Altınkurt (2017) was used to determine teachers’ perception of teacher autonomy, and the Teacher Leadership Scale developed by Beycioğlu & Aslan (2010) was exploited for their perception of teacher leadership. Descriptive analyses such as mean and standard deviation were estimated to determine teachers’ perceptions of autonomy and leadership. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed to control the relationship between teacher autonomy and teacher leadership. As a result of the study, the participants’ teacher autonomy and teacher leadership perceptions were found to be at higher levels. Moreover, it was established that there was a positive and significant relationship between teacher autonomy and teacher leadership, and teacher autonomy was found to be among the factors explaining teacher leadership. Therefore, it can be alleged that teacher autonomy should be promoted to reveal the leadership skills of teachers.