International Research Journal of Education and Technology

The study sought to carry out an evaluation of teachers pedagogical competencies and the performance of junior secondary students in social studies in Kontagora metropolis of Niger State, Nigeria. the study employed three research questions and two null hypotheses and the correlational research design was employed in the study with a population of three thousand one hundred and twenty nine (3,129) lower basic I and II students and one hundred ten (110) teachers from all the public and private secondary schools in Kontagora metropolis of Niger State. A sample of one hundred and fifty six (156) lower basic students representing 5% of the estimated sample of all lower basic I and II Social Studies students in public and private Secondary Schools in Kontagora metropolis of Niger State which was drawn with the stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Two instruments were designed by the researcher for data collection namely: The Teachers Assessment Form (TAF) and Lower Basic I and II Academic Performance Test (LBAPT) for the students to respond to. To ascertain the validity of the instruments: The Teachers Assessment Form (TAF)) and the Lower Basic Academic Performance Test (LBAPT) face validity was ascertained by giving the instrument to expert scrutiny and a reliability of .78 to .89 was ascertained which indicated that the instrument was highly reliable for data collection. In testing the hypothesis, Pearsons Product Moment Correlation was employed and the results of the findings indicate that there is a significant relationship between teachers knowledge of classroom arrangement and their students academic performance in Social Studies. Also, teachers interaction competence significantly relates to students academic performance in Social Studies. It was recommended among others that government should encourage schools to provide in-service training in the form of seminars, workshops, and symposiums for teachers to enhance their knowledge of classroom arrangement in all subjects in schools in the study area and beyond the shores of Nigeria.

Keywords: Evaluation, Pedagogical Competencies, Performance, and Social studies