Teacher self-efficacy as a mediator between learning engagement and teaching skills in Chinese pre-service teachers

Investigating the pre-service teachers’ classroom teaching skills is critical for optimizing their training. This study employed a questionnaire survey with 576 pre-service teachers in Henan Province, utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the factors of classroom teaching skills. The findings demonstrate that pre-service teachers’ learning engagement significantly predicts classroom teaching skills [ β = 0.648, p < .001, 95% CI (0.524, 0.762)], and pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy has a significant positive impact on classroom teaching skills [ β = 0.229, p = .002, 95% CI (0.129, 0.440)]. Moreover, mediation analysis revealed that teacher self-efficacy partially mediated the learning engagement-teaching skills relationship, supported by both SEM and PROCESS analyses. Consequently, adopting a series of methods for promoting pre-service teachers’ engagement would enhance their classroom teaching skills. This study contributes to the interdisciplinary development of education and psychology, providing evidence-based recommendations for designing teacher training programs.