PEDAGOGICAL COMPETENCE OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN ASHAIMAN, GHANA

Abstract

The study investigated the pedagogical competence of teachers and its influence on student’s academic achievement. The descriptive survey research design was adopted and the census (all) sampling technique was used to sample 250 Junior High School (JHS) teachers in Ashaiman Municipality. The collected data from the close-ended questionnaire was analysed with mean and standard deviation on the scale of 1-4 and the Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation was used to test the hypothesis. The study revealed that as a pedagogical competence, the teachers provided appropriate feedback, adapted to changing conditions, explained content to students and communicated learning goals effectively. It was also found that there was a weak positive relationship between the classroom management competence of teachers and student’s academic achievement. The study, therefore, concluded that the pedagogical competence of teachers could help promote deep knowledge, understanding and expectation among students if teacher’s pedagogical competencies are effective. Also, when teachers increase their knowledge and competence to manage the classroom, they could provide high expectations for student’s social support, guidance and independent thought in learning. Recommendations were made to the municipal education directorate, Ghana Education Service and Ministry of Education, Ghana based on the findings.