A cultural lens to school leadership effects on teacher instructional practices: The mediation of teacher collective efficacy and the moderation of uncertainty avoidance.

This study investigates how school leadership influences teachers' instructional practices in Turkey, focusing on the mediating role of teacher collective efficacy and the moderating effect of teachers' uncertainty avoidance—a cultural dimension reflecting comfort with ambiguity. Surveying 928 teachers across 87 middle and high schools, the research found that effective school leadership positively impacts teacher instructional practices indirectly through enhancing collective teacher efficacy. Moreover, this relationship is stronger in contexts where teachers exhibit higher uncertainty avoidance, a cultural trait prevalent in Turkey’s centralized and hierarchical education system. The findings underscore the importance of considering cultural factors like uncertainty avoidance when developing leadership policies and practices aimed at improving teaching quality in non-Western, developing educational contexts.