Teachers’ teaching competence and its relation to the job performance of junior middle school

This study explores the teaching competence of middle school teachers in M District, Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China and the differences by gender and grade also attempts to identify if dimensions of teaching competence predict job performance. The study followed a descriptive and correlational design and used two scales to collect data on the participants’ teaching competence and job performance. The two scales were administered to a stratified random sample of 240 middle school teachers from M District, Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China. Means, standard deviations, the t-test for independent samples, and regression analysis were used to answer the research questions. The results revealed that the middle school teachers had a high level of teaching competence. There were no statistically significant differences by gender in all dimensions of teaching competence, except knowledge accomplishment. All aspects of the overall score showed statistically significant variations by teaching grade. The regression analysis revealed that teaching competence, particularly the dimensions of teaching ability and professional character could predict job performance. It is recommended that teacher training and academic counseling services focus on teaching competent qualities that support efficient job performance.