The role of teacher professional capital in developing distributed leadership: evidence from a centralized system

Özlük D. Aypay A. Özdemir M.
2025 Emerald Publishing

Journal of Professional Capital and Community
2025 1 - 14 pp.

Purpose – This study aims to uncover the role of teacher professional capital (PC) in developing distributed leadership (DL) practices at Turkish public schools. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts a sequential explanatory mixed-methods research design. The quantitative phase included a stratified sample of 394 teachers. The qualitative findings reflected the insights of six purposefully selected school principals from the same research site. Findings – The results revealed a strong and positive relationship between teachers’ PC and DL. Notably, PC scores significantly predicted 76% of the variance in DL practices. Qualitative findings highlighted the importance of trust-based leadership, shared responsibility and support for teacher development, alongside structural and cultural barriers. Leadership styles, teacher agency and school culture emerged as key contextual factors shaping the enactment of DL. Originality/value – The paper expands the existing knowledge base regarding the role of teacher PC in promoting DL practices in centralized educational systems. Incorporating perspectives from both educators and administrators within the school offers valuable insights to policymakers, practitioners and researchers.

Distributed leadership , Professional capital , Public school teachers and principals , Türkiye

Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи

Department of Educational Sciences, Muş Alpaslan University, Muş, Turkey
Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
Department of Educational Sciences, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey

Department of Educational Sciences
Graduate School of Education
Department of Educational Sciences

10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель

Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026