Examining Teachers' Perceptions on Empowerment According to Various Variables

Teacher Empowerment Professional Development Status Trust Cooperation The purpose of the study was to determine the perceptions of teachers regarding their empowerment and whether these perceptions differ significantly depending on their gender, age, branch, professional seniority, length of service at their school, education status, union membership, and the size of the number of students present at the school. In this study, teacher empowerment was considered to ensure teachers' professional development, increase their status, ensure their trust in their organizations, and increase cooperation among organization members. Four hundred forty-one teachers working in the public secondary schools in Denizli Merkezefendi and Pamukkale district participated in this quantitative study carried out during the 2019-2020 academic year. The data of the research were collected with the "Teacher Empowerment Scale." The survey results showed that teachers' perceptions of teacher empowerment, status, trust, and cooperation were high, and their perception of professional development was very high. Accordingly, teachers perceive their status as lower than other dimensions of teacher empowerment. There was no statistically significant difference in the teachers' perceptions regarding their empowerment according to their gender, branch, educational status, and union membership. The age of the teachers was between 31-40 and 6-15 years of teaching experience. Article Info: Received Accepted Published : 07-04-2021 : 13-05-2021 : 17-06-2021


Introduction
Empowerment in the literature started to emerge towards the 1980s (Edwards, Green, & Lyons, 2002). While empowerment was used together with the concepts of employee participation, participatory decision making, and self-management in the 1980s, it was considered as a tool to liberate employees, encourage them to be more innovative, and make them happier and more productive individuals after the 1990s (Davidson & Martinsons, 2002). Therefore, teacher empowerment can be considered a new field of study. With the beginning of determining the necessary skills in the 21st century, it becomes crucial to determine the necessary skills to empower and empower the teachers in this age and eliminate their deficiencies.
In this study, teacher empowerment was considered to ensure teachers' professional development, increase their status, ensure their trust in their organizations, and increase cooperation among organization members. Along with the developing and changing conditions, teachers' opportunity structures, powers, and psychologies should be guided in line with changes. For this reason, teacher empowerment is an issue that requires research and is thought to be up to date as long as there is change.
The complete changes in education continue to occur in the 21st century. Teachers are one of the essential factors in such changes (Fandiño, 2010). Teachers have significant responsibilities in protecting civilization, developing culture, transferring it to young generations, strengthening society's beliefs and value judgments, gaining awareness of development and development as social awareness, and establishing the democratic social order. In the 2023 Education Vision Program of the Ministry of National Education, it is planning to carry out initiating the teaching profession specialization program in order to support and empower teachers, structuring the horizontal and vertical career steps of teachers, structuring graduate professional development programs for teachers, restructuring preservice education at universities, supporting teachers with physical and digital materials, improving wages of paid teachers, preparatory work on the establishment of an incentive mechanism for teachers and school administrators who work under unfavorable conditions and the enactment of a teaching profession law. Empowering teachers, ensuring their managerial progress, and continued promotion are essential for their performance in school. It is crucial to determine teachers' perceptions of empowerment and their demographic characteristics.
The results of empirical research show that teacher empowerment generally plays a positive role in educational settings. For example, researchers state that teacher empowerment can increase teachers' job satisfaction (Rice & Schneider, 1994;Rinehart & Short, 1994), professional commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors (Bogler & Somech, 2004), organizational commitment (Somech, 2005), sense of professionalism and self-confidence (Dee, Henkin, & Duemer, 2003), and reduce teachers' professional burnout (Dee et al., 2003). Based on the findings of these studies, it can be argued that empowering teachers affects many organizational behaviors positively. Empowerment of teachers has many benefits, such as increasing teachers 'performance, productivity, and morale, improving their content and pedagogy knowledge, and as a result, increasing students' motivation and success (Keiser & Shen, 2000). Empowered teachers believe in their knowledge, skills, and abilities related to their work and have confidence in themselves (Ahmad et al., 2014). Empowered teachers are ready to support common school goals and take more responsibility (Raccah, 2009). An empowered workforce will ultimately focus on organizational goals and make extra efforts to exhibit more extra-role behaviors (Ahmad et al., 2014). In formulating such policies, organizations should understand that schools are social places and should pay attention to quality social change (Ahmad et al., 2014). Different reasons make this research original. When the studies on teacher empowerment are examined, the teacher empowerment scale developed by Short and Rinehart (1992) is encountered. In addition, this scale was adapted to Turkish by Baloğlu, Karadağ, and Gavuz (2009) and named as "School Stakeholder Empowerment Scale." Genç (2007) stated a comprehensive delegation of authority in empowerment, but the understanding in empowerment is different from authority transfer. The manager is responsible for the delegation of authority, and if he deems necessary, he transfers his authority to subordinates temporarily. In empowerment, the person is like the job owner and can see the opportunities about the job and make his own decision.
For this reason, it is difficult to say that empowerment and delegation of authority exactly coincide. Apart from this, there are also studies in which structural empowerment scales and psychological empowerment scales are used separately. A more comprehensive, practical, valid, and reliable scale about teacher empowerment developed by the researchers was used in this study. Özkan  determined that the relational scanning model is used extensively in research on teacher empowerment. One of the reasons that make this research original is that this research is a descriptive survey model. In this sense, the research is thought to contribute to the literature.
The purpose of the study is to determine the perceptions of teachers regarding their empowerment and whether these perceptions differ significantly depending on their gender, age, branch, professional seniority, length of service at their school, education status, union membership, and the size of the number of students present at the school. Following this purpose, the following subproblems were tried to be answered: a) What are the perceptions of teachers about their empowerment? b) Do teachers' perceptions of their empowerment differ significantly according to their gender, age, branch, professional seniority, length of service at their school, education status, union membership, and the size of the number of students present at the school?

Method Research Design
This research is based on a descriptive survey design, since teachers' perceptions about empowerment are conveyed in this study. It is a research design that aims to describe the event or situation that is the subject of the study as it exists (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006;Karasar, 2007).

Population and Sample of the Study
The research population consists of 2276 teachers working in the public secondary schools in Denizli's Merkezefendi (1159) and Pamukkale (1117) districts in the 2019-2020 academic year. These data were obtained from the Denizli Provincial Directorate of National Education. A convenience method was used in this study. The study sample was chosen from among volunteer teachers working in public secondary schools in both districts. The following formula suggested by Şahin (2014) was used for the number of samples to represent the universe (Şahin, 2014): N= Population size, n= Sample size, d= degree of freedom, t= According to the formula, reaching a sample of 329 people is considered sufficient for a population of 2276 people. This research was conducted with 473 volunteer teachers. Forms filled in from different provinces (10 forms), different school levels (12 forms), forms filled by school principals (7 forms), and forms filled by associate degree graduates (3 forms) were not included in the study, and the study was carried out through 441 teachers. The demographic characteristics of the teachers in the study are given in Table 1.

Data Collection Instruments
The data collection instruments of the study are "Personal Information Form" and "Teacher Empowerment Scale" developed by Özkan . There are questions related to gender, branch, age, professional seniority, working time at their school, union membership, and educational status in the personal information form. Teacher Empowerment Scale consists of 4 dimensions (professional development, status, trust, cooperation) and 37 items.
Cronbach Alpha and McDonald's Omega values were calculated in order to determine the reliability of the Teacher Empowerment Scale. Büyüköztürk (2006) and Seçer (2017) stated that when the Cronbach Alpha value was 0.70 and above, the scale will be considered reliable. Dunn, Baguley, and Brunsden (2014) Table 3). The acceptable value of CR and AVE is 0.70 and above (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Also, the CR value should be greater than the AVE value (Gouveia & Soares, 2015;Raykov, 1997). The Excel program calculated CR and AVE values. In this way, convergent and discriminating validities of the scale are provided. In addition, the skewness and kurtosis coefficients of the scale items were examined. According to Karagöz (2016) and Darren and Mallery (2016), the skewness and kurtosis values should be between -2 and +2 in order for the data to show a normal distribution. The values for the four dimensions and the whole scale in this study are shown in Table 4. All dimensions in the teacher empowerment scale and the total scale show normal distribution.

Data Analysis
In order to find an answer to the first sub-problem of the study, descriptive statistics and to find an answer to the second sub-problem, the independent statistical techniques (Independent Sample Ttest, One Way ANOVA) were employed. The Independent Sample t-test was used to determine whether there is a significant difference in teachers' perceptions regarding their empowerment according to the variables of gender, union membership, and educational status. One-way ANOVA was used to determine whether there was a significant difference according to the variables of the branch, age, professional seniority, and the duration of work in their school.

Results
The first sub-problem of the study was determined as "What are the perception level of teachers about their empowerment?" In order to find an answer to this sub-problem, the data obtained from the sample was analyzed by descriptive statistical techniques, and the findings reached are given in Table 5. It is seen that teachers have a very high level of perception in the "professional development" dimension (Xz =4.22), a high level of perceptions in the "status" (Xz =3.51), "trust" (Xz =4.08) and "cooperation" (Xz =4.06) dimensions regarding their empowerment. According to teachers' perceptions, current conditions contribute the most to teacher empowerment's "professional development" dimension while contributing the least to the "status" dimension. Professional development refers to the perception that schools provide teachers with opportunities to develop professionally, continue learning, and improve their educational skills during their studies at school (Short, 1994). Accordingly, it can be said that teachers perceive their schools as supportive of their professional development. Although teachers generally have a high level of perception of their empowerment, it is seen that they have a lower perception in the "status" dimension than other dimensions. Statistical findings obtained from the scale items to determine teachers' perceptions about teacher empowerment are given in Table 6. In Table 6, the items with the highest mean, where the teachers stated "I completely agree," are given. When these eight items with the highest mean are examined, it is seen that the first five items (items 2, 1, 3, 5, and 8) belong to the "professional development" dimension. According to teachers' perceptions, school administrations support the teachers' professional development and provide opportunities for teachers to improve themselves in their profession. Statistical information about the items with the lowest means to determine teachers' perceptions about teacher empowerment is given in Table 7. The second sub-problem of the study was determined as "Do teachers' perceptions of empowerment differ significantly according to their gender, age, branch, professional seniority, duration of work at their school, their education status, their status of being a union member, and the size of the number of students in the school?". Teacher empowerment and its dimensions show normal distribution (see Table 4). In order to respond to this sub-problem, the data collected analyzed by inferential statistical techniques (Independent Sample t-test, One Way ANOVA), and the findings are presented with the tables.

a)
Gender: The results obtained in the analysis to determine whether there is a significant difference between teachers' perceptions of different gender regarding teacher empowerment are given in Table 8. A statistically significant difference was not found regarding teacher empowerment in teachers' perceptions according to their gender (p>.05).

b)
Age: The results obtained from the analysis to determine whether there is a significant difference between teachers' perceptions in different age groups regarding teacher empowerment is given in Table 9. It has been determined that there are statistically significant differences between teachers' perceptions in different age groups regarding teacher empowerment (p<.05). Levene test was applied to figure out the source of this difference and test the equality of variances, and the variance equality of the groups was tested. Variances in teacher empowerment show a homogeneous distribution. Therefore, the Post Hoc procedure suggested by Bonferroni was carried out. At the end of the Post Hoc process, it is seen that teachers aged 51 and over have higher perceptions of teacher empowerment than other teachers. Teachers in the age group of 31-40 have a lower perception of teacher empowerment than other teachers.

c)
Branch: The results obtained in the analysis to determine whether there is a significant difference between teachers' perceptions in different branches regarding teacher empowerment are given in Table 10. According to their branches, there is no statistically significant difference in teachers' perceptions of teacher empowerment (p>.05). d) Professional seniority: The results obtained in the analysis to determine whether there is a significant difference between teachers' perceptions in different seniority groups regarding teacher empowerment is given in Table 11. Statistically significant differences were determined in teachers' perceptions of teacher empowerment according to their branches (p<.05). In order to determine the difference between the groups, the Levene test was applied first, and the equality of variances was tested. It was determined that teacher empowerment (p=.070) showed a homogeneous distribution. For this reason, the Post Hoc procedure recommended by Bonferroni was carried out. At the end of the Post Hoc process, teachers with seniority between 6-15 years (Xz =3.85; Xz =3.88) had a lower perception of teachers' empowerment than teachers with seniority of 16 years or more (Xz =4.11; Xz =4.12).

e)
Working time at their schools: The results obtained in the analysis conducted to determine whether there is a significant difference between teachers' perceptions who have different working years in their school about teacher empowerment are given in Table 12. Statistically significant differences were determined in teachers' perceptions regarding teacher empowerment according to their working time in their schools (p<.05). In order to determine the difference between the groups, the Levene test was applied first, and the equality of variances was tested. The distribution of variances in teacher empowerment is homogeneous (p>.05). For this reason, the Post Hoc procedure recommended by Tukey was carried out. It has been revealed that teachers working at a school where they have six years or more towards teacher empowerment (Xz =4.08) have a higher perception than teachers working in a school where they are between 3-5 years (Xz =3.90). e) Educational status: The results obtained in the analysis conducted to determine whether there is a significant difference between the perceptions of undergraduate and graduate teachers regarding teacher empowerment is given in Table 13. f) Union Status: The results obtained in the analysis to determine whether there is a significant difference between the perceptions of unionized teachers and not related to teacher empowerment are given in Table 14. f) Number of students in the school: The results obtained in the analysis conducted to determine whether there is a significant difference between the perceptions of teachers with different numbers of students in their schools regarding teacher empowerment are given in Table 15. It has been determined that there are statistically significant differences between teachers' perceptions working for the schools with different numbers of students regarding teacher empowerment (p<.05). Levene test was applied to investigate the source of this difference and test the equality of variances and the groups' variance equality. It was determined that variances in teacher empowerment showed a homogeneous distribution, and the Post Hoc procedure suggested by Tukey was carried out. It was determined that teachers working in schools with 1001 or more students (Xz =4.11) have a higher perception of teacher empowerment than teachers in schools with students in the range of 501-1000 (Xz =3.92).

Discussion, Conclusion, and Implications
According to this research, teachers perceive their empowerment level as high. Similar to this result of the study, Cheasakul and Varma (2016), Ganiban, Belencia, and Ocampo (2019), Odabaş (2014), Tindowen (2019) found that teachers perceived their level of empowerment as high. Differently, Marks and Louis (1999) found that teachers perceive their empowerment level as a medium, Squire Kelly (2012) as low, and Al-Yaseen and Al-Musaileem (2013) as very low.
Developments in information processing technology, increasing competition, increasing education levels and expectations of individuals in the society, and the formation of a globalizing and constantly changing external environment make it essential for teachers to be empowered and perceive themselves as empowered. Employees with high perceptions of empowerment are more willing to achieve organizational goals and believe that ensuring their efficiency meets their personal needs (İhtiyaroğlu, 2017).
An important reason for the growth of developed countries is educational investments in human capital (Tunç, 1993). Teacher empowerment in schools is realized with school administrators transferring their powers to teachers, involving teachers in their decisions, creating awareness of togetherness in schools, spending time together in a different school, canteen, garden, teachers' room, cafeteria, classrooms. It is carried out by communicating with them, encouraging teachers for professional and personal development, and taking into account the particular situation of teachers in the preparation of the curriculum and during shifts (Kıral, 2019). Investments in education by empowering teachers will enable teachers to be more productive and efficient, and higher productivity means higher earnings (Üstün, 2006).
It was determined that teachers have a very high level of perception of their professional development. According to teachers' perceptions, school administrations support teachers' professional development and provide opportunities for teachers to improve themselves in their profession. One of the most critical factors affecting teachers' motivation is school administrators (Argon, 2015). School administrators were not supporting teachers, being indifferent to their requests and problems; in other words, school administrators who have an indifferent management style create a feeling of powerlessness in teachers (Çelik & Akar, 2020).
It was determined that teachers have a high level of perception of their status. However, it was found that teachers have a lower perception of status than other dimensions of empowerment. Similarly, Ökmen (2018) determined that teachers perceive the status of their teaching profession as high. Tindowen (2019), Aguado, Garcia, Laguador, and Deligero (2015) determined that teachers in the Philippines have a very high level of status perception. Kahraman and Çelik (2020), in their study critical the status of the teaching profession, determined that according to teachers, teaching is sacred, respected, and reliable. Sunar, Kaya, Otrar, Demiral, Nerse, and Kalpaklıoğlu's (2015) research on the credibility of the profession in Turkey has identified that teaching is the most respected profession after a medical doctor, university professor, and judge. According to the study of Sunar et al. (2015), it was determined that the status of the teaching profession lagged behind some professions, but when examined in general, it was seen that it ranks high. Accordingly, it can be said that teachers have professional respectability and feel that other individuals respect their knowledge and experience. Differently, 87% of teachers in Ulutaş's (2017) study on the social status of the teaching profession, and 78% of teachers in Ünsal's (2018) study find the status of the teaching profession low. In the studies of Demir and Almalı (2020), Varkey (2013), Sönmez and Cemaloğlu (2017), teachers state that they believe that the status of the teaching profession is decreasing day by day. Gök and Okçabol (1998) argue that according to most of the teachers teaching profession is not accepted in society, students will not listen to a teacher who is not respected, and parents will not support the teacher.
It was determined that teachers have a high level of perception about the dimension of "trust." This result reveals that teachers trust their schools and administrators. Teachers' trust in their schools ensures that a favorable environment is created to achieve the school's goals (Çelik & Gencer, 2019).
Studies on trust in schools are addressed with trust in the administrator, trust in stakeholders, trust in colleagues, communication, openness to innovation, and sensitivity to employees. In this study, trust primarily includes trust in the manager. Akgündüz, Güzel, and Harman (2016) state that the primary determinant of teachers' perceptions of trust is the trust they have in their administrators. Teachers' trust in their administrators is influenced by the fact that administrators are accessible, open, keeping their word, skill, consistency, loyalty, accuracy, honesty, attentiveness, openness to new opinions, and general reliability (Deluga, 1994). Baş and Şentürk (2011), Cantaş and Kavas (2015), Çelik and Gencer (2019), Duman (2018), Polat (2007), Polat and Celep (2008) also emphasize that teachers' perception of trust is high. Uygur (2018) states that teachers' trust in their principals and colleagues is "very high," and their trust in stakeholders is "high." There are also studies in which teachers' perception of trust is "moderate" (Artuksi, 2009;Bökeoğlu & Yılmaz, 2008;Kalaycı, 2007;Memduhoğlu & Zengin, 2011;Özdere, 2015;Yıldız, 2013). Although these studies were carried out in Turkish schools, the reasons that have caused the differences in teachers' trust levels can be investigated.
It was determined that teachers have a high level of perception of cooperation. This result reveals that teachers have perceptions of a high level of cooperation between teachers. One of the management processes of Fayol is coordination. Coordination has three essential steps: harmony, cooperation, and encouragement (Tortop, İşbir, & Aykaç, 1999). Increasing participation, cooperation and cooperation relations among teachers in educational organizations provide an increase in efficiency and quality in education (Çepni & Küçük, 2003). Members of the organization can do actions that cannot be carried out alone, in cooperation. Cooperative behaviors among teachers include shared works on implementing the curriculum, teachers' creating lesson plans together, and developing assessment and evaluation practices together (DuFour, Eaker, & DuFour, 2005). Teachers can share good practices with their colleagues, transfer them to their classes, exchange ideas, and collaborate to solve the problems they encounter in the classroom (Cerit, 2009).
No statistically significant differences were found in teachers' perceptions of teacher empowerment according to their gender. Accordingly, it can be said that male and female teachers have similar perceptions of teacher empowerment. Similarly, Al-Yaseen and Al-Musaileem (2013), Ganiban et al. (2019), Gardenhour (2008), Gonzales and Short (1996), Kıral (2020), Odabaş (2014), Ökmen (2018), Short and Rinehart (1992), Veisi et al. (2015) did not find a statistically significant difference in teachers' perceptions of empowerment according to their gender. İhtiyaroğlu (2017) determined that while female teachers have a higher perception of their psychological empowerment, male teachers have a higher perception of structural empowerment. While Altınkurt et al. (2016) have a higher perception of psychological empowerment among female teachers, they did not find a statistically significant difference regarding structural empowerment according to teachers' gender. At the same time, Yorulmaz et al. (2018) found that while teachers' perceptions of structural empowerment did not differ statistically significant, male teachers had a higher perception of psychological empowerment. According to Duman (2018), while male teachers have a higher perception of structural empowerment, there is no statistically significant difference in their perceptions of psychological empowerment according to their gender. Dimitriades and Kufidu (1995) did not find a statistically significant difference in teachers' perceptions of psychological empowerment according to their gender. Uygur (2018) did not identify statistically significant differences in teachers' perceptions of structural empowerment. Different results have been revealed in teachers' perceptions of teacher empowerment when the literature is examined according to gender.
When examined according to the age variable, teachers over 41 have a higher perception of teacher empowerment. In this direction, it can be said that teachers over the age of 41 can undertake their development and improve their ability to solve their problems. Differently, according to Odabaş (2014), Ökmen (2018), Veisi et al. (2015), teachers' perceptions of empowerment differ statistically significantly according to their age. One of the researchers, İhtiyaroğlu (2017) and Güneş (2015), who dealt with teacher empowerment separately as structural and psychological empowerment, found in their study that there was no statistically significant difference in teachers' perceptions of structural and psychological empowerment according to their age. While Duman (2018) determined that teachers between the ages of 20-29 and over 50 have a higher perception of structural empowerment, they did not find a statistically significant difference in teachers' perceptions of psychological empowerment by age. There is no consensus in teachers' perceptions regarding teacher empowerment in the literature according to the age variable.
No statistically significant differences were found in teachers' perceptions of teacher empowerment according to their branches. Accordingly, it can be said that teachers have similar perceptions of empowerment regardless of their branch. Similarly, Kıral (2020) did not find a statistically significant difference in teachers' perceptions of psychological empowerment according to their branches. According to their branches, Uygur (2018) did not identify statistically significant differences in teachers' perceptions of structural empowerment.
No statistically significant differences were found in teachers' perceptions of teacher empowerment according to their educational status. Accordingly, it can be said that undergraduate and graduate teachers have similar perceptions of teacher empowerment. Al-Yaseen and Al-Musaileem (2013), Ganiban et al. (2019), Gardenhour (2008), Ökmen (2018) did not find a statistically significant difference in teachers' perceptions of empowerment according to their educational status. Uygur (2018), on the other hand, found that undergraduate teachers have a higher perception of structural empowerment.
No statistically significant differences were found in teachers' perceptions of teacher empowerment according to their union status. Accordingly, it can be said that unionized or nonunionized teachers have similar perceptions of teacher empowerment.
It was revealed that teachers between the ages of 31-40 according to the age variable and teachers with seniority between 6-15 years according to the seniority variable have a lower perception of empowerment than the other groups. Perception of teacher empowerment is higher among teachers who have worked in their school for six years or more. Teachers who have been working in the same school for a long time are more familiar with the school they are in, administrators and management approach, students and colleagues at the school, parents, and school environment (Tepe, 2018). Teachers who work in the working environment are accustomed to know more about the school administration, students, other teachers, and parents and can communicate with them more easily. For these reasons, it can be said that teachers who worked at their schools for a long time felt stronger.