Introduction and Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of professional development in the relationship between curriculum literacy and teacher effectiveness.
Methodology: This research employed a descriptive–correlational design. The statistical population included all junior high school teachers in Kazeroon city. Using Krejcie and Morgan’s table, a sample was selected through cluster random sampling. Data were collected using the following instruments: the Curriculum Literacy Questionnaire by Ababaf et al. (2013), the Professional Development Questionnaire by Ghanbari and Mohammadi (2016), and the Teacher Effectiveness Questionnaire by Edmond et al. (2005). Content validity was confirmed through Lawshe’s CVR (agreement coefficient above 0.70), and reliability was verified using Cronbach’s alpha (α > 0.88).
Findings: Curriculum literacy had a significant effect on teacher effectiveness. Moreover, curriculum literacy significantly influenced professional development. The main hypothesis results showed that the indirect effect of curriculum literacy on teacher effectiveness, mediated by professional development, was 0.42 and significant at the 0.05 level.
Conclusion: Teachers’ curriculum literacy plays a crucial role in enhancing their effectiveness. In addition to its direct impact, curriculum literacy fosters professional development, which in turn strengthens the indirect effect of curriculum literacy on teacher effectiveness. In other words, higher levels of curriculum literacy among teachers lead to greater effectiveness, both directly and through the pathway of professional development.