Distributed leadership and inclusive education for underserved groups: examining the mediating role of teacher autonomy

Purpose Distributed leadership has gained prominence as a preferred approach for fostering inclusive education because of its ability to share authority and responsibility among multiple individuals. Although some studies have explored the influence of distributed leadership on inclusivity, their findings remain inconclusive. Moreover, there is a dearth of research on its impact on teachers’ self-related efficacy in multicultural classrooms. This study addresses this gap by examining the relationship between distributed leadership and teacher self-related efficacy in multicultural classrooms mediated by teacher autonomy in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach The distributed leadership framework served as the theoretical foundation for this study, which employed a quantitative approach using data from the OECD TALIS 2018 survey. A sample of 2,046 lower secondary school teachers were analyzed using descriptive statistics, structural equation modeling and mediation analyses. Findings The results indicated that distributed leadership had a negligible effect on teacher self-related efficacy in multicultural classrooms. Nonetheless, distributed leadership had a small yet meaningful indirect effect on teacher self-related efficacy in multicultural classrooms through teacher–classroom autonomy, indicating that teacher autonomy fully mediates this relationship. Practical implications The mediating effect highlights the essential role of empowering teachers with professional freedom as a lever to enhance their efficacy in diverse classroom settings. Originality/value This study uniquely contributes to research on inclusive education for underserved groups by revealing how distributed leadership enhances teacher self-related efficacy in multicultural classrooms.