Parent-Teacher Association Support and its Effect on Academic Achievement: A Mediation Analysis of Teacher Quality in Sabah Secondary Schools

This study examines the direct impact of Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) support on students’ academic achievement in secondary schools in Sabah, Malaysia. It investigates whether teachers’ quality serves as a mediating factor. Informed by the model of collaborative school-community partnerships, a quantitative survey method was used with 293 participants. Four hypothetical models were examined with regression and mediation analyses by bootstrapping. Results indicated that the PTA support had a positive influence on students’ academic performance (β = 0.220, p < .001), accounting for 12% of the variance (R² = .12). PTA support similarly emerged as a strong predictor of teacher quality (β = 0.67, p < .001, R² = .67), evidence that significant parental involvement leads to stronger teaching efficacy. In addition, the teacher quality had a significant direct impact on their students’ academic performance (β = 0.82, p < .001), which explained 67% of the variance (R² = 0.67), corroborating its fundamental role in academic achievement. The mediation analysis revealed that teacher quality acts as a mediator in the relationship between PTA support and students’ academic achievement. The indirect effect was 0.35, with a 95% bootstrap confidence interval = [0.28, 0.43], meaning that the mediation was statistically significant. These results corroborate all four hypotheses and demonstrate that direct PTA support is beneficial for children; however, its full potential can be leveraged by strengthening teacher quality. This research emphasises the importance of fostering a strong home-school partnership between PTAs and schools, as well as supporting teacher training, to achieve improved educational outcomes. The relevance of this discussion to policy and practice in the Malaysian education context is explored.