Improvement Strategies for Professional Learning Communities：the co-mediating role of professional agency and teachers’ scientific research ability

Abstract Existing studies focus on the institutional and material support in the process of building professional learning communities, while neglecting the psychological needs and subject efficacy of teachers. This study integrates organizational support theory, social cognition theory and communities of practice, constructs a chain-like mediation model, and analyzes the collaborative path in which multi-dimensional organizational support, especially psychological support, influences community construction through teachers' professional agency and scientific research ability. Based on the data of 4,010 teachers in three provinces, it is indicated that organizational support enhances teachers' sense of belonging through resource supply and emotional empowerment, professional agency drives the social cognitive cycle of "environmental support - sense of efficacy - knowledge production", and scientific research ability promotes the community iterative mechanism of "problem identification - knowledge sharing - practice optimization". The two form a two-way reinforcing effect. The research breaks through the single mediation paradigm, proposes the "resource - capability - collaboration" system support framework, and clarifies the transformation logic of organizational support from individual cognitive reshaping to collective knowledge construction. The results show that: (1) Perceived organizational support, professional agency and teachers' scientific research capabilities significantly affect the construction of professional learning communities; (2) Professional agency and teachers' scientific research capabilities play a mediating role in the influence of organizational support perception on the construction of professional learning communities; (3)Active organizational support is related to the development of perception and professional learning communities. The research results have enlightening significance for the construction of professional learning communities.