Abstract:

This study investigated the role of autonomous schools and interactive leadership in teachers' use of innovative teaching methods. The statistical population of the study consisted of 142 teachers from autonomous middle schools in the western province of Mazandaran, Iran. Employing a census approach, the entire population was selected to constitute the study sample. The data collection tools were the standard questionnaires of interactive leadership by Bass and Avolio (1995) with reliability (0.75) and innovative teaching behavior by Canter (1998) with reliability (0.83). The data analysis method used was descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis (stepwise) using SPSS software to confirm or reject the research hypotheses.

The findings of the study showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the dimensions of interactive leadership (conditional reward and exception-based management) and the innovative teaching of teachers. The results showed that the exception-based management component has the highest predictive power for the criterion variable of innovative teaching.

Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that autonomous schools and interactive leadership are two important factors in encouraging teachers to use innovative teaching methods. Paying attention to these two factors can help improve the quality of education and learning in schools.

Keywords:

Autonomous schools, interactive leadership, innovative teaching.