Khalil Zandi; Mojgan Derakhshan; Siamak Sadeghi
Abstract
IntroductionRecent research suggested that teacher agency played a crucial role in fostering teacher capacity to learn and teach, which, in turn, influenced schools performance improvement. Teacher agency refers to the capacity of teachers to act purposefully and constructively to direct their professional ...
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IntroductionRecent research suggested that teacher agency played a crucial role in fostering teacher capacity to learn and teach, which, in turn, influenced schools performance improvement. Teacher agency refers to the capacity of teachers to act purposefully and constructively to direct their professional growth and contribute to the growth of education quality. Considering the role of teacher agency in improving learning in schools, searching for the antecedents of this variable can be one of the concerns of researchers in the field of education. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to determine the mediating role of trust in the relationship between learning-oriented leadership and teacher agency. MethodThe research method was a correlational description. The statistical population was primary school teachers of Hamedan province. The statistical sample was 102 people who were selected using the convenience sampling method. Data collection tools were three questionnaires of learning-oriented leadership, teacher trust and teacher agency, which were developed by Liu et al. (2016a) and Liu et al. (2016b). Before running the questionnaires on the main sample, the validity of the questionnaires was confirmed by experts and their reliability confirmed according to Cronbach's alpha coefficients. After implementing the questionnaires, the convergent validity, discriminant validity, internal consistency and composite reliability of the research instrument were confirmed as part of the data analysis phase. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. ResultsThe Results showed that learning-oreinted leadership significantly predicts teachers’ trust and agency. Also, teachers trust was a significant predictor of teacher agency. These findings confirm the mediating role of trust in the relationship between learning-oriented leadership and teacher agency. DiscussionOne of the interesting points in the findings is that the indirect effect of learning-centered leadership on teacher agency (mediated by trust) is more than its direct effect, and this well shows the role of trust in the link between leadership and teachers' agency. Therefore, it is recommended that school administrators increase the agency of teachers through the use of learning-oriented leadership behaviors and create a trusting environment in the school.
