Relationship Between Primary School Principals’ Distributed Leadership and Teachers’ Professional Development: The Mediating Role of Professional Learning Community and Identity

This study examined the relationships among principals’ distributed leadership, teachers’ professional development, and two proposed mediators: teachers’ professional learning community (PLC) and professional identity, in primary schools in Hebei Province, China. Survey data were collected from 32 primary schools, yielding 581 valid questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized mediation model. The results showed that the professional learning community and professional identity of primary school teachers in Hebei Province fully mediated the relationship between principals’ distributed leadership and teachers’ professional development. Thus, principals’ distributed leadership operates via PLC and professional identity. Taken together, the findings are consistent with the view that PLC and professional identity may function as important pathways linking principals’ distributed leadership to teachers’ professional development.