Professional learning communities, teacher self-efficacy and instructional practices in Vietnamese lower secondary schools

Teacher professional learning communities (PLCs) have received extensive research attention due to their important role in teacher professional development and classroom practices. However, research aiming to explain the underpinning mechanisms of how PLCs foster teacher instructional practices is limited. Against this backdrop, this study examined the possible mediating role of teacher self-efficacy in the relationship between PLCs and teacher instructional practices. This study was conducted in two major cities in Vietnam, using a convenience sampling method. The data included questionnaires completed by 566 lower secondary school teachers. The data were analysed using SPSS Statistics 26.0 and Mplus 8.8 software. Structural equation modelling results revealed that teacher self-efficacy mediated the relationship between PLCs and all three components of teacher instructional practices, namely, clarity of instruction, cognitive activation and classroom management. Notably, teachers who had less than 10 years of teaching experience tended to outperform their more experienced counterparts in promoting clarity of instruction and cognitive activation. Limitations and pedagogical implications of this study are discussed.