Cultivating teacher academic aspiration: unveiling the impact of empowering leadership, teacher professional learning, and academic optimism

A growing body of research now examines how principals’ leadership practices influence teachers’ professional experiences and school life. However, there is a noticeable gap in understanding the effect of empowering leadership on teachers’ academic aspirations. This study aimed to explore the relationship between empowering leadership and teachers’ academic aspirations. A moderated mediation model was tested, in which empowering leadership predicted teacher academic aspiration both directly and indirectly through teacher professional learning. In addition, teacher academic optimism moderated the link between professional learning and academic aspiration, indicating that the indirect effect of empowering leadership depends on the level of teacher academic optimism. According to the results, a partial mediation model, showing that empowering leadership had both direct and indirect effects—mediated by teacher professional learning–on teacher academic aspirations. Additionally, the results revealed that higher levels of teacher academic optimism strengthened the impact of empowering leadership on teacher academic aspirations. These results have important implications for educational policy, practice, and theory and can potentially shape the future of teacher development and leadership in schools.