How Distributed Leadership Relates to Teacher Professional Learning in Turkish Secondary Schools: The Partial Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction

Distributed leadership has attracted growing attention in educational administration and leadership research because of its effects on organizational processes and teacher outcomes. This study investigates the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between distributed leadership and teachers’ professional learning. Adopting a quantitative correlational design, the study drew on data from 660 teachers in 46 public secondary schools across nine metropolitan districts of Ankara, Türkiye, selected through proportional stratified sampling. The findings show that job satisfaction mediates this relationship, while distributed leadership demonstrates a moderate, positive, significant association with teachers’ professional learning in Türkiye’s centralized and hierarchical education system.