PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ VIEWS ON THEIR AUTONOMY

In the paper we discuss primary school teachers’ views of their own autonomy. In the introduction we present the theoretical premises and the views of different authors. In spite of the different views on understanding teacher’s autonomy, it can be summed up it is a complex, multi-layered and important factor of teacher’s activities. It appears at different levels and relations in the education process. Here we highlight the significance of decentralisation of school that influences teacher’s authority and tasks, as with decentralisation the power and responsibility of decision-making is transferred from the national to the school level, which means the significance of school autonomy—and thus also of teachers’ autonomy—is strengthened. In the second part the results of an empirical study carried out on the sample of 104 primary school teachers from 30 randomly selected basic schools in Slovenia are presented. We found primary school teachers estimate they are autonomous in their work. To the largest extent teacher’s autonomy is influenced by regulation in education, by the curriculum, and by professional qualifications, and the least by parents. They link their own autonomy to independence in making decisions about choosing the methods of teaching and the selection of teaching resources they use at the performance level of teaching. According to the estimate of surveyed teachers they have less autonomy in selecting textbooks, which can be attributed to enforcing the policy of joint procurement and to the decisions of school authorities regarding the introduction of the latter into school practice