Investigating the link between Self-Concept and Job Performance of Agricultural Science Teachers in selected Secondary Schools in Namibia’s Zambezi Region (Published)

A teacher’s job performance is impacted by diverse components including, among others, the individual self-concept in teaching a particular school subject. The teacher’s self-concept is the perception or belief that he/she has about his/her psychological well-being and occupational satisfaction. The study investigated the job performance self-concept of Agricultural Science teachers in selected secondary schools in Zambezi Region of Namibia. A qualitative research design involving an individual face-to-face interview was used to collect data on teachers’ job performance self-concept from a sample of 12 participants. The study used purposive sampling to select the 12 participants made up of 6 male and 6 female Agricultural science teachers currently teaching in the study area. The results of the study revealed that the majority of the participants were proficient in both theory and practical skills, while a handful further indicated that they could identify the needs of the syllabus and that of the learners. These components were considered essential in nurturing learners’ achievement in Agricultural Science. The study further revealed that gender plays no significant role concerning teacher’s competencies in teaching Agricultural Science in the Zambezi region. However, it was found that the participants who had more years of Agricultural Science teaching experience were better equipped with subject content knowledge than their less experienced counterparts. 

Keywords: Agricultural Science, Competencies, Experience, Gender, Job Performance, Self-Concept

The Levels of Deployment, Utilization and Job Performance of Teachers in the Public Senior Secondary Schools in Edo State (Published)

A central concern is that teachers are the bedrock upon which the attainments of the objectives of the programmes in the school system are based.  Adequate deployment and utilization enhances their job performance. This study had the broad objective to investigate the Levels of Deployment, Utilization and Job Performance of Teachers in the Public Senior Secondary Schools in Edo state, Nigeria from the customers’ perspective. The specific objectives were to determine the level of deployment of graduate teachers in Edo State public senior secondary schools and to identify the level of deployment of graduate teachers in the different teaching subjects in Edo State public senior secondary schools. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was made up of 3366 graduate teachers deployed to 306 public secondary schools in the 18 local government areas as at 2010/2011. A sample size of 396 graduate using multi –stage randomly selected procedure determination from a finite population. Questionnaires were distributed to the filled and returned. Validity of the instrument was measured using content validity, and this was done by experts from the academia. Internal consistency was done using Cronbach alpha coefficient test statistic to test the reliability of the instrument, yielding a coefficient of 0.78. The hypotheses were tested using Pearson product moment correlation at 5% probability level of significance and regression analysis with charts for illustrations. The findings indicated that: There is low deployment and uneven distribution of graduate teachers to public schools. Also, poor utilization of these teachers was very obvious. Thus, the study concluded that job performance would be very low. The study therefore recommended that government should carry out an analysis to fill areas of scarcity, rationalize distribution of teachers and ensure there is a balance in deployment. This will create a fair system of graduate teachers in both urban and rural areas especially in mathematics and English subjects.

Keywords: Deployment, Job Performance, Utilization, teachers and Public schools