Teacher Evaluation and Quality of Pedagogical Practices

Abstract

This study explored the extent to which teacher evaluation influences the quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools in Uganda. It was triggered by the persistent criticisms about the deteriorating quality of teaching and learning in secondary schools in the country. The study was approached from the positivist research paradigm. However, a descriptive cross-sectional survey research design was specifically used to conduct the study. Data were collected from 76 head teachers and 960 teachers drawn from 95 public secondary schools and two officials from the Uganda’s Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports (MoESTS) using survey and interview methods. Ordered logistic regression and content analysis methods of data analysis were used to establish the influence of teacher evaluation on the quality of pedagogical practices in the schools. Study findings revealed that both formative (coeff. =5.557; p=0.000<.05) and summative (coeff. =3.056; p=0.000<.05) teacher evaluations significantly influence the quality of pedagogical practices in school. Thus, it was concluded that the way teachers teach, is partly determined by how well and regularly they are evaluated, other factors notwithstanding. Therefore, the researchers recommended that in order to enhance the quality of pedagogical practices, MoESTS needs to develop standard formative evaluation tools that can be used for continuous teacher evaluation as well as train head teachers on how to effectively appraise their staff.