Investigation of primary school teachers' levels of participation in decision and distributed leadership perceptions

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the level of participation of primary school teachers in decision-making processes and their perceptions of distributed leadership. The general survey model was determined as the research model. The population of the research consists of a total of 2555 primary school teachers, 2347 of whom are in public schools and 208 in private schools, according to the data received from the Ministry of National Education Şehitkamil District Directorate of National Education in 2022. Data collected through a survey from 335 primary school teachers selected through random sampling were analyzed. It has been determined that primary school teachers mostly participate in student affairs and academic success decisions and group decisions, but rarely participate in school management decisions. Distributed leadership perceptions were found to be at the "agree" level in all sub-dimensions of unity of purpose, formal structure cooperation and trust, encouragement and initiative, and responsibility sharing. While the level of participation in the decision-making varies according to the age and gender of teachers, the perception of distributed leadership differs according to their years of seniority and education level. There was a moderately significant, positive relationship between decision-making behavior and distributed leadership perception. 24.6% of the total variance in teachers' decision-making behavior is explained by the perception of distributed leadership. Administrators working in primary schools should distribute leadership activities to teachers to increase their decision-making behavior.