Relationships of Teacher’ Perceived Disciplinary and Professional Development Barriers with Self-Efficacy and Teaching Practices

This study aims to examine the relationship between teacher’ perceived disciplinary, professional development barriers, teacher self-efficacy, and teaching practices. The research utilizes data from 8.342 teachers obtained from the TALIS 2018 Turkey dataset. A structural equation model based on Bayesian parameter estimation was developed to analyze the relationships between the variables. The findings revealed that teacher’ perceived disciplinary had no direct relationship with teaching practices. However, it was determined that this relationship is established indirectly through teacher self-efficacy. Furthermore, professional development barriers were found to moderate both the direct and indirect relationships (via teacher self-efficacy) between perceived classroom discipline problems and teaching practices. Indeed, it was determined that lower levels of professional development barriers strengthened these direct and indirect relationships. These results indicate that perceived classroom discipline problems can negatively impact teachers' self-efficacy, thereby indirectly harming teaching practices. Additionally, it is understood that these negative effects may be more pronounced in situations where professional development barriers are low. The study concludes by offering various recommendations for policymakers, educational practitioners, and researchers, based on the findings.