The Role Of Self-Regulated Learning In Mediating Competence And Digital Literacy On Teacher Performance

Teacher professional development is often framed as adding competencies, even though strengthening technical capacity does not automatically improve teaching performance. This study examines self-regulated learning (SRL) as a mediating pathway linking industry-based professional competence and digital literacy to teacher performance. An explanatory, cross-sectional quantitative approach surveyed all 168 productive-subject teachers at six State Vocational High Schools in Situbondo Regency using a census technique, achieving a 100% response rate. Data were collected with a closed-ended, 1–5 Likert-scale questionnaire comprising 42 items (41 after one item was removed) and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling in SmartPLS 4. Industry-based professional competence and digital literacy were positively and significantly associated with teacher performance and with SRL, and SRL was positively and significantly associated with teacher performance. SRL partially mediated the relationships of both exogenous variables with teacher performance, with the path from industry-based competence to SRL being strongest. The model explains 27.8% of the variance in SRL and 37.3% of the variance in teacher performance, with moderate predictive relevance. Because all constructs were self-reported at a single time point, the findings describe modeled relationships among teachers’ reported perceptions, not causal effects or independently observed performance. The results suggest that self-regulation capacity may be an important pathway through which competence resources relate to performance. Professional development programs may therefore consider strengthening self-directed learning ability alongside competence transfer, for example through protected self-development time and mentoring in setting individual competence targets, an idea that requires testing in longitudinal or experimental designs.