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Description:
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Teacher empowerment plays an important and underlying role in the day -to -day conduct of schooling . Existing research has failed to give much insight in regard to what empowerment means to individual teachers , how these meanings are constructed , what events change these meanings , and whether teachers can retain a sense of empowerment in die context of changes and events that occur within and beyond the school setting .
This study focused on how fifteen career science teachers' perceptions of their empowerment , as defined by the six elements presented by Short (1992 , pp . 9 -14 ) which include decision -making , professional growth , status , self -efficacy , autonomy , and impact , have changed as a result of key events during their careers . Empowerment was chronicled through the telling of teacher stories or events in combination with a systems thinking strategy—the construction of behavior -over -time graphs .
The study found six contexts for the development of empowerment . Those included : Preparation for Instruction , Student Success , Involvement in Decision -making , Teaching Context , Collegial Relationships Within the School , and Collegial Relationships Outside the School . The study also confirmed the roles and identified the relationships of the six dimensions of empowerment as identified by Short . Although complex , nonlinear and subject to the causal loops of systems dynamics , the dimensions did , nevertheless , appear and mature in an identifiable sequence .
Autonomy appeared early as a naive sense of choice and evolved over time into a mature sense of responsible decision -making . Autonomy is the most complex and abstract of the dimensions , and most nearly mirrored empowerment itself . Decision -making had the most immediate effect on teacher empowerment as the events associated with changes in teaching context and the decisions that caused those changes caused graphs to plummet . A sense of autonomy gave "heart" to the process , allowing teachers to persist through trying circumstances . Professional growth provided the "mind ." As teachers obtained more knowledge their feelings of self -efficacy increased , they were more likely to be involved in and confident in decision -making , and they increased in status and had more impact . Professional growth , self -efficacy , autonomy , and impact were associated with and grew from positive and empowering experiences and events .
Two models emerged . One identifies the two simultaneous processes of empowerment : The personal empowerment process includes self -efficacy and status . The organizational empowerment process includes autonomy , decision -making and impact . Both processes occur simultaneously although individual teacher stories may emphasize one over the other . The second model shows empowerment as a cycle with three stages of empowerment : The Initiating Phase , The Increasing Phase , and the Sustaining Phase . Although all the dimensions are present during all stages , they become increasingly complex and sophisticated , and reach maturity during the third phase .
Teachers in the study indicated theft need to be respected for their ability to act responsibly and make good decisions . The teachers exhibited remarkable resiliency in maintaining theft overall sense of empowerment with professional development providing support for the growth process . |