The Effect of Collectivism on Teacher Professional Learning Through Shared Instructional Leadership

ABSTRACT This study examines how teachers' collectivist cultural values (TCCV) relate to teacher professional learning (TPL) in Türkiye's highly centralised public‐school system, and whether shared instructional leadership (SIL) helps explain this relationship. Drawing on survey data from 628 teachers working in public schools across 12 NUTS regions, we estimated a structural equation model linking TCCV, SIL and TPL. The results show that TCCV is only weakly but positively associated with both SIL and TPL, whereas SIL is moderately and positively associated with TPL. When SIL is included in the model, the direct association between TCCV and TPL becomes non‐significant and TCCV is linked to TPL primarily through SIL. In statistical terms, SIL fully mediates the TCCV–TPL relationship, but the size of the TCCV effects is small, while SIL explains a substantial share of the variance in TPL. These findings suggest that in centralised, collectivist settings, cultural value orientations support teacher learning chiefly by enabling principals and teachers to share instructional leadership, rather than through TCCV alone. This study explains how culture and leadership influence professional learning in a way that is specific to the context. The study highlights the significance of drawing on existing collectivist norms and advancing SIL practices. The cross‐sectional, single‐source design and the focus on public schools in Türkiye limit the generalizability and causal interpretation of the findings.