Local Adaptation and CFA Validation of the Professional Development Programme Design (PDPD) Scale for Chinese Lower-Secondary Schools

Abstract

Valid measurement of professional development (PD) programme design is essential for identifying how programme features support teacher learning and for accumulating comparable evidence across studies. However, instruments that retain the classic distinction between core and structural PD features remain insufficiently adapted and structurally validated for Chinese secondary-school contexts. To address this gap, This study adapted the Professional Development Programme Design (PDPD) scale for Chinese secondary schools and evaluated its structural validity. After translation–back translation, expert review, and cognitive pretesting, 333 in-service lower-secondary teachers from Hubei Province, China, completed the Chinese PDPD. Using confirmatory factor analysis in a theory-driven workflow and competing-model comparisons, we tested the original five-factor model (Content Focus, Active Learning, Coherence, Duration, and Collective Participation) against an alternative model that merged Coherence and Duration. Both models showed acceptable global fit; however, Coherence and Duration were nearly indistinguishable (latent r ≈ 0.95) and two coherence items displayed unstable loadings. After removing four problematic items and combining Coherence and Duration, the final 24-item, four-factor model (Content Focus, Active Learning, Structural Features, and Collective Participation) demonstrated good fit and strong internal consistency (α ≥ 0.80). Composite reliability exceeded 0.86 and average variance extracted exceeded 0.50 for all factors, supporting convergent validity, while inter-factor correlations highlighted the need for further discriminant and invariance testing. The study contributes context-specific evidence that Coherence and Duration may function as an integrated Structural Features dimension in Chinese secondary schools, while providing a parsimonious instrument for future research on PD quality and outcomes.