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The purpose of this study was to introduce teacher epistemic curiosity for student learning into the leadership literature and to determine if school principals can support it. The inquiry was organized by the following research question: In what ways can principal–teacher conversations support teacher epistemic curiosity for student learning? The research question guided the review of literature on epistemic curiosity, eventually leading to the leadership practice of transformative leadership conversation (TLC). A hypothesized model on the relationship between TLC and epistemic curiosity for student learning was advanced from research on student and employee curiosity and self-determination theory.

The hypothesized model was tested with a correlational research design. Teacher survey data were collected in December 2023 from a random sample of certified public school teachers from a metropolitan area in a southwestern state of the USA. Usable survey responses were received from 2,022 teachers, resulting in a 55% response rate. The hypothesized model was tested with structural equation modeling in AMOS 28 using robust maximum likelihood estimation. The latent models include measurement and structural components.

Results confirm the hypothesized relationships among TLC, need-satisfaction and teacher epistemic curiosity. TLC and need-satisfaction both had strong, direct relationships with teacher epistemic curiosity for student learning. TLC explained approximately 20% of the variance in teacher curiosity and need-satisfaction explained approximately 18%. The combined model accounted for approximately 55% of the variance in teacher epistemic curiosity.

The study emerged from robust evidence on the essential function of curiosity for knowing, learning, performance and life well-being, as well as limited research on social processes that leaders can leverage to stimulate teachers’ motivation to understand how their students learn. Curiosity is an inner energy behind learning; it fuels an innate drive to explore, know, create, design and adapt to our surroundings. Schools and classrooms come to life when teachers and students engage in learning from a place of curiosity, making this motivational resource worthy of leadership attention.