Teachers' Instructional Competence and Students' Achievement in Tanza National Trade School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The success of the educational system depends on the effectiveness of its tripod function: research, extension and instruction. Philosophically, the first two are the engines and the compass that provide the direction as to where the ship heads to, while the third represents the people who take command. And as the ship sails towards its destination, the teachers are the officers and the students are the crew. In order to have safe and successful voyage, they must build good rapport and work well within the bounds of their duties and responsibilities. While the teacher needs to be skillful, students' potentials have to be tapped and applied for maximum use.

METHODS

Descriptive-correlation design wasused to correlate the teachers' instructional competencies and students' achievement. It focused on five randomly selected courses being offered in the Technical Vocational Education. Lottery method was used in this study. The parameters for comparison are instructional competencies of teachers in relation to students' achievement which was elicited through standardized questionnaire.

RESULTS

The respondents of this study were from five selected areas of specialization offered in the vocational courses. The level of the instructional competence in terms of skills in the different vocational courses obtained general weighted of 4.59 for automotive; 4.82 for the drafting; 4.55 for food technology and 4.70 for dressmaking which indicate that the teacher "always" practices these skills. The students in electricity only rate their teacher as "Often". The level of the teachers' instructional competence in terms of attitude towards teaching as perceived by their students in automotive technology, drafting and dressmaking rated their teacher having always and obtained a weighted mean of 4.57; drafting 4.71; and dressmaking a weighted mean of 4.67, electricity students rated their teachers on attitude towards teaching weighted mean of 2.99 and food technology with a weighted mean of 3.86 descriptively indicate that they "often" practice having the attitude teaching the course.

DISCUSSIONS

The results of this research showed that there exists a relationship between students' academic achievement and teachers' competencies. This means that the teacher must have a mastery of the subject matter in order for the students to learn. It further found that teacher's skill in teaching is directly proportional to students' academic performance. That, students learn more from a skilled and positive-driven teacher.