Teacher work-autonomy : The freedom to make principle pedagogical and administrative decisions

In this study, autonomous behavior was defined based on the professional's decisions and behavior. The more freedom teachers are given in making decisions about fundamental issues pertaining to pedagogical and administrative matters, the more autonomous they feel at work. Two hypotheses were empirically tested: (a) teachers clearly distinguish between principle and routine decisions in the pedagogical and organizational domains of school work; (b) the frequency in which principle pedagogical and organizational decisions are made distinguishes between different levels of teacher work autonomy. Participants were 350 teachers from two types of schools: 9 self-governed, (autonomous) schools, and 9 non-autonomous schools. They completed an anonymous questionnaire composed of a scale for measuring the frequency of autonomous behavior at school. It was found that in their autonomous functioning at school, teachers clearly distinguish between principle and routine decisions, as well as between decisions related to pedagogical and organizational matters. In addition, it was found that the frequency of making principle pedagogical decisions (and to a lesser degree - the frequency of making principle organizational decisions) is the most salient variable, distinguishing between teachers in autonomous versus non-autonomous schools. In light of the support given to the hypotheses, the discussion focused on the theoretical and practical implications of the research findings.