LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR AND TEACHERS’ PARTICIPATION IN CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66811/eije.vol1.no1.86Keywords:
educational leadership behaviour; professional learning communities; continuous professional development; teacher participation; mediation analysis; public senior secondary schools.Abstract
This study examined the association between educational leadership behaviour and teachers’ participation in continuous professional development (CPD), with professional learning communities (PLCs) tested as a statistical mediator among public senior secondary school teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive-correlational survey design. Twenty-seven schools were selected from the 88 public senior secondary schools in the FCT, and 361 teachers provided usable responses. Data were collected with the Leadership Behaviour, Professional Learning Communities and Teachers’ Continuous Professional Development Participation Questionnaire (LBPLC-TCPDPQ). Pearson product-moment correlation, simple linear regression and regression-based mediation analysis with 10,000 bootstrap resamples were applied. Educational leadership behaviour correlated positively with CPD participation, r(359) = .48, p < .001, and significantly predicted PLC participation, β = .61, p < .001. PLC participation also predicted CPD participation, β = .65, p < .001. The indirect association between educational leadership behaviour and CPD participation through PLC participation was statistically significant, B = 0.35, SE = 0.04, 95% bootstrap CI [0.27, 0.43]. PLC participation accounted for 71.9% of the standardised total modelled effect, while the direct effect remained significant, indicating partial mediation. The findings suggest that leadership support is more strongly connected with sustained teacher learning when schools organise collaborative professional learning as a regular part of teachers’ work. The study recommends protected time for collaborative inquiry, stronger distributed facilitation, needs-based CPD planning and systematic follow-up of externally organised professional development.
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