Teacher supervisory competencies and students’ academic performance in Hoima district government-aided secondary schools, Uganda.

Abstract

The study was premised on the general belief that students’ academic performance in most Government-aided secondary schools has continued to be poor amidst the continued professionalization of teachers, instructional supervision by the Ministry of Education and Sports and findings from previous studies. The study examined the extent to which teacher supervisory competencies affect students’ academic performance in Hoima District Government-aided secondary schools, Uganda, under the mediation of the teaching-learning facilities, with a view of developing a model for evaluating teacher application of supervisory competencies in monitoring students’ learning progress for improved academic performance. The study results were achieved through analyzing the effect of teacher leadership supervisory competencies on students’ academic performance; examining the effect of teacher managerial supervisory competencies on students’ academic performance, and assessing the relationship between teacher interpersonal supervisory competencies and students’ academic performance in these schools. The study based its premises on two theories: The Self-efficacy theory and the Self-determination theory where the former underscore the strength of an individual’s belief in his/her ability to execute a course of action, rather than what skills and abilities one possesses, while the later focused of an individual’s innate needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness to others, which motivates one to seek out activities that satisfy these needs. A sample of 149 respondents was used of which 141 were teachers and eight key informants; who were selected randomly and purposely respectively from a study population of 354 persons. A mixed methods design based on a post-positivist epistemological assumption and a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used. Questionnaire surveys, key informant interviews and field observations were used to elicit information from teachers and 5 head teachers and 3 District officials who were purposely sampled. This was in addition to document analysis. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics while qualitative data was categorized according to themes that correlated with the study objectives or used verbatim. Data was triangulated to get a holistic picture of the teacher supervisory competences in their context. Findings revealed that teacher leadership supervisory competencies have a moderate significant association with students’ academic performance (β = .498 p ≤ 0.05), and that these competencies account for 26.8% of the variations in students’ academic performance. While, teacher managerial supervisory competencies also have a moderate positive significant effect on students’ academic performance, (β = .538 p ≤ 0.05) and a prediction of 36.6% of the variations in students’ academic performance. It was also found out that teacher’s interpersonal supervisory competencies had a strong positive significant relationship with xix student’s academic performance (β =.712, p≤ 0.05) and a prediction of 39.2% of the variations in students’ academic performance. Additionally, descriptive and qualitative findings indicated that generally there exists inadequate practicing of the leadership, managerial and interpersonal supervisory competencies by teachers which limits their effectiveness in improving students’ academic performance in Hoima District Government-aided secondary schools. The findings herein presented the ideas that the study discussion held which formed a basis for developing the Supervision Competence Evaluating Practices of Teachers (SCEPT) Model as a contribution to knowledge among other specific recommendations to different stakeholders. It is envisaged that if the SCEPT model is implemented, then teachers’ level of supervising the learning progress of students will improve and consequently, their academic performance.