Quality Assurance Personnel’s Perceptions of Teachers’ Instructional Practices and Students’ Performance in Basic Science and Technology in The Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria

This study examined quality assurance personnel’s perceptions of teachers’ instructional practices and students’ performance in Basic Science and Technology (BST) in junior secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was used. The population comprised 617 principals, vice-principals and quality assurance officers across the six Area Councils of the FCT. A planned sample of 357 respondents was selected through simple random sampling, while 343 valid responses were analyzed. Data were collected with the Perception of Quality Assurance Officers on Teachers’ Job and Students’ Performance Scale (PQAOTSPS), a four-point Likert instrument with a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of 0.77. Mean and standard deviation answered the research questions, while independent-samples t-test and one-way ANOVA tested the hypotheses at the 0.05 level. Teachers’ lesson preparation (M = 2.90, SD = 0.99), lesson presentation (M = 2.97, SD = 0.97) and classroom management (M = 3.03, SD = 0.95) were favourably perceived. Students’ classroom activities (M = 2.77, SD = 1.02) and academic performance (M = 2.82, SD = 0.93) were perceived as moderate. School location significantly differentiated lesson-presentation and student-performance ratings, while years of experience significantly differentiated classroom-management ratings. The study concludes that favourable perceptions of teacher competence have not fully translated into equally strong student engagement, critical thinking and problem-solving. Strengthened inquiry-oriented instruction, continuous professional development and improved instructional resources are recommended.