The Development Of Teacher Autonomy And The Effect In Job Performance: Evidence From Primary And Middle School Teachers

Autonomy is understood as one of the human characteristics. Teacher autonomy is an important subject in teaching theory and practice. More and more researchers and theoreticians start to note the importance of autonomy to teachers'work. On the basis of comprehensive analysis of the study of autonomy, aiming at the existing problems of the prior studies, starting with the relationship between teacher autonomy and job performance, from the different approaches of trait research and correlation research, exerting technology of exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, we provide the measurement instrument of teacher autonomy. It systematically discusses levels and characteristics of Chinese primary and middle school teachers'autonomy, analyzes relation between teacher autonomy and job performance by exerting correlation analysis and regression analysis.The present study is divided into 5 parts. The conclusions drawn from the study are as follows:(1) Teacher autonomy is a multi-component structure. It mainly includes three dimensions:self direction, self assertion and self development.(2) The teacher autonomy scale of primary and middle school teachers has good reliability and validity. It is befitting to be the measurement instrument to measure Chinese primary and middle school teachers'autonomy.(3) Teachers'development level of teacher autonomy is in the top, with variance on each of its factors, the development level of self direction is the highest and the development level of self assertion is the lowest. (4) The development of teacher autonomy generally is not significant in difference of sex, while significant in difference of age, professional title and school type. In difference of age, middle-age teachers'autonomy is higher than young-age teachers', and it takes on an upward developmental trend. In difference of professional title, non-professional title teachers'autonomy is lower than others', and it takes on an upward developmental trend too. In difference of school type, the junior high school teachers' autonomy is higher than the senior high school and primary school teachers', and it takes on an inverted "V"-type trend.(5) All the dimensions of teacher autonomy have extremely significant positive correlation with job performance, that is, the more teacher autonomy is, the higher job performance is, and vice versa. Self direction has more correlations with job performance and its two dimensions than other two dimensions of teacher autonomy. Meanwhile different level of teacher autonomy has significant positive correlation, that is, the higher teacher autonomy is, the higher job performance is, and vice versa.(6) The autonomy of primary and middle school teacher is significantly related to job performance, and can be predictive of teachers'job performance.