Examining Teacher Autonomy Within the Framework of Facilitating Structure in School Bureaucracy

Understanding how school organizational structures influence teachers’ professional autonomy has become increasingly important in discussions of educational improvement and teacher professionalism. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between teachers’ perception levels of autonomy and the facilitating and obstructive bureaucratic structures. The research population, utilizing the relational screening model, comprises primary and secondary school teachers in the Eyüp Sultan district of Istanbul for the 2023 to 2024 academic year. The sample for the research consists of 348 teachers, selected through convenience sampling. In this research, the Teacher Autonomy and Enabling School Scales were used to collect research data. The findings indicated that, in this sample, perceived bureaucratic structures were not significantly associated with teacher autonomy. While certain demographic differences were observed, no empirical support was found for the predictive role of school bureaucratic structure. Future research may examine psychological and individual factors directly to better understand the sources of teacher autonomy.