Perceived teacher support and academic achievement: Mediation by academic self-efficacy and student engagement

Abstract

: This study examines the mechanisms by which academic self-efficacy and student engagement help explain the association between perceived teacher support and academic achievement in vocational blended learning contexts. This cross-sectional survey was conducted with 935 students from vocational colleges in Sichuan, China (females = 694; mean age = 19.08 years, SD = 0.89). Data were collected using the Academic Self-Efficacy Scale, Perceived Teacher Support Scale, Blended Learning Student Engagement Scale, and Academic Achievement Scale. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bias-corrected bootstrapping (5000 resamples) were conducted to test the proposed relationships. The analysis indicated a significant positive link between students’ perceived teacher support and their academic achievement. Academic self-efficacy also served as a significant mediating factor, and student engagement provided another significant mediating route. In addition, the results supported an ordered indirect pathway in which perceived teacher support was associated with academic achievement first through academic self-efficacy and then through student engagement. However, pairwise comparisons showed no statistically significant differences among the three indirect effects. These findings provide context-specific evidence on the roles of academic self-efficacy and student engagement in vocational blended learning environments, offering practical implications for fostering academic achievement in these settings.