Title: Antecedent of teacher agency: the role of teacher leadership

Authors: Mei Kin Tai; Abdull Kareem Omar

Addresses: School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences & Leisure Management, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia; Education for All Impact Lab, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia ' Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Management and Economics, Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjong Malim, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia

Abstract: The practice of Teacher Leadership (TL) has gained momentum in the past two decades and is one pathway to produce favourable outcomes which can leverage sustainable school improvement and effectiveness. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between TL and Teacher Agency (TA) in Malaysian National Secondary Schools. A total of 898 schoolteachers from 60 schools completed the survey. Structural equation modelling was employed for data analysis. The findings found that (i) TL was significantly related to TA; (ii) all the six dimensions of TL were significantly related to the five dimensions of TA, respectively and (iii) 85% of the practice of TL by teacher leaders contributed to the enactment of TA. The study offers relevant parties a lens through which TL can steer systemic change in examining TA as a critical component towards effective school improvement specifically in developing countries with the similar background as Malaysia.

Keywords: teacher leadership; teacher agency; professional learning; professional identity; structural equation modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2025.142882

International Journal of Management in Education, 2025 Vol.19 No.1, pp.60 - 83

Received: 20 Jan 2024
Accepted: 05 Apr 2024
Published online: 30 Nov 2024 *

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