Perceived Autonomy Levels among Elementary School Students and Their Teachers

Many authors have spoken against controlling environments and in favour of autonomous ones. In order to estimate perceived autonomy levels in the classroom, we decided to compare teachers’ perceptions with students’ ones, gaining a more accurate idea of the autonomy levels present in the classroom. The study participants (231 students, 18 teachers) provided data which showed how the teachers’ perceptions differ from the students’ ones in all cases, generally the teachers rating autonomy levels higher than the students. We also found indicators of differences present among teachers of the same subject areas as well as in terms of the students’ gender, school and age.