Room for autonomy: The mediating role of autonomy in the relationship between management style and teachers' job perception

Researchers worldwide are drawing attention to the societal pressure on education. Teachers' professional autonomy is constrained. The correlation between the degree of autonomy and job perception has been well established. Researchers have also shown the influence of school leadership on teachers' perceived autonomy. However, little research specifically concerns teachers working with young children. This study examines the role of professional autonomy as a mediating mechanism in the way in which principals influence the job perception of teachers in the first two years of Dutch primary education. Professional autonomy is operationalized as both perceived task autonomy and the fulfilment of a basic need. Tests of the hypothetical model showed that professional autonomy mediates the link between management style and job perception of teachers in primary schools. Further, the relationship between management style and the fulfilment of the basic psychological need for autonomy is shown to be partially mediated by perceived task autonomy.