Teacher Empowerment as a Structure Supporting Teachers’ Development: Principals’ Practices and Ideal Empowerment

Teacher empowerment is characterized as teachers’ individual and professional development, supporting them, providing them with comfortable working conditions and materials, and fostering constructive communication. The study sought to understand how principals approach teacher empowerment and what constitutes optimum teacher empowerment. The study was developed as a qualitative research, with 11 principals from Turkish public schools interviewed throughout the 2023–2024 academic year. The principals began by explaining how ideal empowerment should be, followed by sharing current empowerment practices. The study was divided into four themes: individual and professional development, support, sources, communication and collaboration. Ideal teacher empowerment was also grouped under the same themes. The study concludes and compares the ideal and current teacher empowerment by recommending that school principals be taught in teacher professional development, teacher empowerment, raising awareness, and ensuring development both before and during their tasks.