Institutional support mechanisms associated with teacher empowerment and professional commitment among primary and secondary school teachers in urban schools in Mogadishu, Somalia
- 1Faculty of Education, SIMAD University
- 2PhD Candidate in Health Sciences, College of Public Health, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University
Abstract
Teacher empowerment and professional commitment are important for supporting educational quality, particularly in fragile and post-conflict contexts where institutional support structures remain weak. Despite increasing attention to teacher retention challenges in developing countries, there is limited empirical evidence on how institutional support mechanisms are associated with professional outcomes in fragile education systems. This study examined the associations between professional development access, policy and working conditions protection, union support effectiveness, and Teacher Empowerment and Professional Commitment (TEPC) among primary and secondary school teachers in urban public and private schools in Mogadishu, Somalia. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 220 primary and secondary school teachers. The sample was predominantly drawn from private schools, with 89.5% of respondents from private schools and 10.5% from public schools. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), with age, education, and teaching experience included as demographic control variables in the structural model. The results showed that all three institutional support mechanisms were positively and statistically significantly associated with teacher empowerment and professional commitment. Professional development access was positively associated with teacher empowerment and professional commitment (β = 0.200, p = 0.006), policy and working conditions protection showed the strongest positive association (β = 0.420, p < 0.001), and union support effectiveness was also positively associated with the outcome construct (β = 0.205, p = 0.004). The structural model accounted for 49.0% of the variance in the TEPC, indicating moderate explanatory power. Effect size analysis further showed that policy and working conditions protection had a moderate association, while union support effectiveness and professional development access had smaller but significant associations. The findings contribute to organizational and educational governance theory by providing evidence of the importance of institutional support structures in relation to professional outcomes in fragile urban education contexts. Practically, this study provides policy-relevant insights for supporting improvements in teacher retention, professional engagement, and education system resilience through institutional reforms and capacity-building initiatives within the urban school context of Mogadishu, Somalia.
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BibTeX
@article{adan2026institutional,
title = {{Institutional support mechanisms associated with teacher empowerment and professional commitment among primary and secondary school teachers in urban schools in Mogadishu, Somalia}},
author = {Mohamud Omar Adan and Abdirahman Ibrahim Abdi and Anas Ali Alhur},
journal = {Discover Sustainability},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1007/s43621-026-04254-x},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04254-x},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Institutional support mechanisms associated with teacher empowerment and professional commitment among primary and secondary school teachers in urban schools in Mogadishu, Somalia
AU - Mohamud Omar Adan
AU - Abdirahman Ibrahim Abdi
AU - Anas Ali Alhur
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/01
JO - Discover Sustainability
DO - 10.1007/s43621-026-04254-x
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04254-x
AB - Teacher empowerment and professional commitment are important for supporting educational quality, particularly in fragile and post-conflict contexts where institutional support structures remain weak. Despite increasing attention to teacher retention challenges in developing countries, there is limited empirical evidence on how institutional support mechanisms are associated with professional outcomes in fragile education systems. This study examined the associations between professional development access, policy and working conditions protection, union support effectiveness, and Teacher Empowerment and Professional Commitment (TEPC) among primary and secondary school teachers in urban public and private schools in Mogadishu, Somalia. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 220 primary and secondary school teachers. The sample was predominantly drawn from private schools, with 89.5% of respondents from private schools and 10.5% from public schools. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), with age, education, and teaching experience included as demographic control variables in the structural model. The results showed that all three institutional support mechanisms were positively and statistically significantly associated with teacher empowerment and professional commitment. Professional development access was positively associated with teacher empowerment and professional commitment (β = 0.200, p = 0.006), policy and working conditions protection showed the strongest positive association (β = 0.420, p < 0.001), and union support effectiveness was also positively associated with the outcome construct (β = 0.205, p = 0.004). The structural model accounted for 49.0% of the variance in the TEPC, indicating moderate explanatory power. Effect size analysis further showed that policy and working conditions protection had a moderate association, while union support effectiveness and professional development access had smaller but significant associations. The findings contribute to organizational and educational governance theory by providing evidence of the importance of institutional support structures in relation to professional outcomes in fragile urban education contexts. Practically, this study provides policy-relevant insights for supporting improvements in teacher retention, professional engagement, and education system resilience through institutional reforms and capacity-building initiatives within the urban school context of Mogadishu, Somalia.
SN - 2662-9984
ER -