Understanding autonomy from the perspective of faculty members: The case of Faculty of Education

The aim of this research is to describe and explain autonomy of faculty members in depth based on the experiences of academic staff working in faculties of education. An explanatory sequential mixed method was employed in the research. The participants were the academic staff at 14 faculties of education that developed and implemented their own curriculum following the Turkish Council of Higher Education' (YÖK) delegation of authority to education faculties in 2020. The data were collected from 320 faculty members through a survey and 35 faculty members via semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings show that the faculty members have a general sense of autonomy in terms of administrative participation, professional development, and curriculum. The key factors affecting autonomy were identified as institutional culture, professional competence, legal frameworks, economic conditions, characteristics of the educational environment, and social structure. Faculty member autonomy is defined as the ability of academic staff to make and implement their own decisions freely within the scope of their professional responsibilities. Faculty member autonomy is understood as having freedom in administrative processes, professional development, teaching and research, having professional competencies, having freedom of expression and responsibility.