Digital Competence and Professional Development as Predictors of Teachers’ Efficacy among High School Teachers

Abstract

Teachers’ efficacy, or teachers’ belief in their capability to engage students, apply effective instructional strategies, and manage classrooms, is consistently linked to instructional quality and learner outcomes. Although digital competence and professional development are emphasized in Philippine teacher-quality reforms, few studies have examined their combined contribution to teachers’ efficacy. This study determined the levels of digital competence, professional development, and teachers’ efficacy among high school teachers; examined the relationships of digital competence and professional development with teachers’ efficacy; and tested whether the two variables significantly predict teachers’ efficacy. A quantitative, non-experimental descriptive-correlational design with a predictive component was employed. Data were gathered from 130 public and private high school teachers in Davao City, General Santos City, and Zamboanga City using a researcher-adapted 57-item questionnaire grounded in the DIGCOMP framework, the OECD TALIS framework and the Department of Education’s Learning Action Cell policy, and the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple linear regression at the .05 level of significance. Teachers reported high to very high levels of digital competence, professional development, and teachers’ efficacy. Digital competence (r = .494, p < .001) and professional development (r = .674, p < .001) were each significantly and positively related to teachers’ efficacy. Together, the two variables explained 48.2% of the variance in teachers’ efficacy, F(2, 127) = 59.07, p < .001, with professional development (β = .571, p < .001) emerging as a stronger predictor than digital competence (β = .197, p = .010). The findings indicate that sustained, collaborative professional learning, complemented by digital competence, strengthens teachers’ beliefs in their instructional capabilities. School leaders and the Department of Education may prioritize job-embedded professional development that integrates digital-skills building as a pathway to stronger teacher efficacy.