Primary and Middle School Teachers’ Perception about their Pedagogical Competency and Associated School Factors in Bench-Sheko, and West Omo Zones: Implications for Teacher Education

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine primary and middle school teachers’ perception about their pedagogical competency and associated school factors using concurrent QUAN + qual design. Three hundred seventy-four primary school teachers selected through simple random sampling have participated in the study. The finding shows two sets of clusters with a statistically significant difference in pedagogical competency. The first cluster, consisting of n=107 (29%) teachers, perceived they had good pedagogical competency, while teachers in the second cluster n=267 (71%), reported poor pedagogical competency at p<0.01. Lack of capacity building training, working environment, teachers’ qualifications, and teachers' training program are factors associated to teachers’ pedagogical competency.  Finally, the study presented the implications of the findings on teacher education programs with regard to the preparation of teachers, admission to the profession, the quality of the training, and continuous professional development practices.