Existing studies have demonstrated the critical roles of either formal or informal learning in bolstering teachers’ professional performance, personal welfare, and the resultant student outcomes (Kyndt et al., 2016). However, most current studies address these two constructs separately, rendering the relationship between them ambiguous, which has caused a biased understanding of workplace learning (Kyndt et al., 2016). To bridge this gap, we integrated self-determination theory (SDT) and job redesign theory to explore the influencing mechanisms of formal learning on informal learning.

Teachers’ formal learning refers to experiences derived from school-organized/endorsed or institutionally sponsored learning programs aimed at fostering their professional development (Feiman-Nemser, 2012). Their informal learning means teachers’ self-initiated learning behavior aimed at addressing their professional development needs (Kyndt et al., 2016) or resolving work-related issues (Hoekstra and Korthagen, 2011). Informal learning activities can be categorized into five types consisting of four types of interactive learning activities, including learning through media, colleague interaction, stakeholder interaction, and student interaction, and the fifth type is reflecting on practice (Huang et al., 2020). The overall impact of formal learning on informal learning has been theoretically and empirically confirmed (Choi and Jacobs, 2011). Individuals with more formal education and training experience have been found to devote more time to self-directed learning activities and engage in more informal learning activities (Rowden, 2002). Therefore, we postulated that teacher perceived formal learning would positively influence teachers’ five types of informal learning activity.

The critical role of basic need satisfaction to informal learning is firstly supported by the self-determination theory (SDT).  SDT posits that there are three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. SDT asserts that individuals with basic need satisfaction will exhibit a high level of autonomous motivation and initiate more learning activities (Deci et al., 2017). SDT also proposes that the workplace context, including provided formal learning opportunities, is pivotal in influencing individuals' basic need satisfaction (Deci et al., 2017). While few studies have directly explored the relationship between teachers' formal learning and basic need satisfaction, indirect evidence suggests that teacher-perceived formal learning opportunities can fulfill their three basic needs by augmenting teachers' knowledge, skills (Richter et al., 2014), autonomy (Castle, 2004), and perceived relatedness (Barrable and Lakin, 2020). we posit that teachers’ basic need satisfaction mediates the impact of perceived formal learning on different types of informal learning activity.

The job redesign theory has emphasised the crucial role of individuals’ job redesign behaviour, especially challenge seeking behaviour, in their learning behaviour and working performance (Zhang and Parker, 2019). Individuals who are seeking challenges such as new skills acquisition or innovative practice generation will have a high level of informal learning motivation and engage in different types of informal learning activity (Lazazzara et al., 2020). Moreover, formal learning can enhance individuals’ self-efficacy and augment their professional knowledge and skills (Richter et al., 2014). Consequently, individuals with boosted confidence and perceived control of working are more inclined to seek additional challenges, such as undertaking more tasks or responsibilities. Drawing from the literature, we believe that teachers’ challenge seeking behaviour mediates the impact of teacher-perceived formal learning on their different types of informal learning activity. Given that individuals’ challenge seeking behaviour largely depends on their autonomous motivation (Lazazzara et al., 2020), we posited that teachers’ challenge seeking behaviour serves as a sequential mediator between their formal and informal learning.

Our sample consisted of 1,886 primary and secondary school teachers from Gansu and Yunnan provinces in southwest China. Each participant received a WeChat link to a consent form and an online questionnaire from their school principal. A 7-item professional learning opportunity subscale of the 2020 North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2020) were used to assess the perceived formal learning opportunity. These items were scored ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). All other variables were scored on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Teachers’ basic need satisfaction. The 16-item Work-related Basic Need Satisfaction Scale developed by Van den Broeck and colleagues (2010) was used to assess the teachers’ basic need satisfaction. Challenge seeking behavior. The 5-item subscale of increasing job demands behavior developed by Tims et al. (2012) was used to examine teachers’ challenge seeking behavior. Informal learning activity. Teachers' informal learning activity was evaluated using the Informal Teacher Learning Scale (Huang et al., 2022). The 19-item scale has 5 dimensions. To test the construct validity of the studied variables, we first conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Following the CMV test, descriptive statistical analysis was used to determine the means and standard deviations of the variables investigated, as well as their Spearman’s correlations. Then, a measurement model encompassing all eight variables was built. To test the hypothesis model, structural equation modelling (SEM) was used with maximum likelihood (ML) as the estimator. As the CFI and TLI values were greater than .90 and the RMSEA and SRMR were less than .08, the model fit was regarded as acceptable. Bootstrapping procedures with 2,000 samples were performed to verify the mediation effect. Mplus 8.3 software was used to conduct all of the analyses.

Our study generates two main findings: 1. Teachers perceived formal learning opportunity functions in various ways to promote different informal learning activities. Formal learning was found to directly promote teachers’ interactive informal learning activity. Given that interaction with colleagues, stakeholders, and students is the most common content involved in formal learning, these activities may easily permeate and influence teachers’ daily learning activity. However, regarding learning through media and reflection, the impact of formal learning was only through basic need satisfaction and challenge seeking behaviour. 2. Both teachers’ basic need satisfaction and challenge seeking behaviour were found to be critical mediators, with the latter having a stronger relationship with teachers’ informal learning. We found that formal learning can boost teachers’ challenge seeking behaviour. By accessing cutting-edge theories and alternative pedagogy through formal learning, teachers are inclined to take on more challenges or implement teaching experiments. Further, the strength of the associations between challenge seeking behaviour and most informal learning was very high except for learning through colleagues. This may because colleague interaction resides in a school’s culture as well as individual teachers’ motivation and initiation (Grosemans et al., 2015). Regarding the mediating role of basic need satisfaction, our results indicate that it only mediated one-third of the effect of perceived formal learning opportunity on challenge seeking behaviour. This finding is noteworthy given recent research suggesting that motivation is the core mediator of the impact of job resources on individuals’ job redesign behaviour (Zhang & Parker, 2019), with basic need satisfaction potentially explaining this relationship (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). However, our study reveals that teachers’ challenge seeking behaviour may be significantly influenced by their interaction with supportive conditions, such as available resources and engaging research projects, rather than being predominantly dependent on teachers’ basic need satisfaction.

References (abridged) Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2017). Job demands–resources theory: Taking stock and looking forward. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), 273–285. Castle, K. (2004). The meaning of autonomy in early childhood teacher education. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 25(1), 3–10. Choi, W., & Jacobs, R. L. (2011). Influences of formal learning, personal learning orientation, and supportive learning environment on informal learning. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 22(3), 239–257. Deci, E. L., Olafsen, A. H., & Ryan, R. M. (2017). Self-determination theory in work organizations: The state of a science. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4(1), 19–43. Feiman-Nemser, S. (2012). Teachers as learners. Harvard Education Press. Grosemans, I., Boon, A., Verclairen, C., Dochy, F., & Kyndt, E. (2015). Informal learning of primary school teachers: Considering the role of teaching experience and school culture. Teaching and Teacher Education. Hoekstra, A., & Korthagen, F. (2011). Teacher learning in a context of educational change: Informal learning versus systematically supported learning. Journal of Teacher Education, 62(1), 76–92. Huang, X., Lee, J. C. K., & Frenzel, A. C. (2020). Striving to become a better teacher: linking teacher emotions with informal teacher learning across the teaching career. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1067. Huang, X., Lin, C. H., Sun, M., et al. (2022). Metacognitive skills and self- regulated learning and teaching among primary school teachers: The mediating effect of enthusiasm. Metacognition Learning, 17, 897–919. Kyndt, E., Gijbels, D., Grosemans, I., & Donche, V. (2016). Teachers’ everyday professional development: Mapping informal learning activities, antecedents, and learning outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 86(4), 1111–1150. Lazazzara, A., Tims, M., & de Gennaro, D. (2020). The process of reinventing a job: A meta–synthesis of qualitative job crafting research. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 116, 103267. North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. (2020). North Carolina teacher working conditions survey. Retrieved from https://nctwcs.org Richter, D., Kunter, M., Klusmann, U., Lüdtke, O., & Baumert, J. (2014). Professional development across the teaching career: Teachers’ uptake of formal and informal learning opportunities. In Teachers’ professional development (pp. 97-121). Brill. Rowden, R. (2002). The relationship between workplace learning and job satisfaction in US small to midsize businesses. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 13, 407–425. Tims, M., Bakker, A. B., & Derks, D. (2012). Development and validation of the job crafting scale. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(1), 173-186. Zhang, F. F., & Parker, S. K. (2019). Reorienting job crafting research: A hierarchical structure of job crafting concepts and integrative review. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(2), 126–146.