ASSESSMENT OF TEACHERS’ JOB PROFICIENCY IN OSUN STATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

Teacher job proficiency remains a major determinant of instructional quality and student learning outcomes in Nigerian secondary schools. Concerns about declining teacher performance in Osun State have necessitated an appraisal of factors influencing teachers’ job proficiency. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design to investigate the extent to which teachers’ qualification, years of experience, professional development, and competence determine teachers’ job proficiency in public secondary schools in Osun State. Data were collected using two validated instruments titled Teachers’ Job Proficiency Questionnaire (TJPQ) and Principals’ Job Proficiency and Competency Questionnaire (PIPCO). Both instruments possessed acceptable levels of content validity and internal consistency reliability. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics to answer the research questions and multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that teachers’ qualification, years of experience, professional development, and competence were significant predictors of job proficiency. Specifically, teachers’ qualification and experience jointly accounted for 31.5% of the variance in job proficiency (R² = 0.315), while professional development and competence contributed 6.29% (R² = 0.0629). The study concluded that enhancing teachers’ professional development and improving qualification and experience levels are critical to sustaining high job proficiency. It was therefore recommended that educational authorities should institutionalize continuous professional development programmes and provide supportive policies that promote teacher competence and effective classroom performance.