A Structural Model of Faculty Member's Perceived Teaching Competencies and the Academic Gains of University Students

Faculty members constitute one of the most important elements of higher education system in playing a decisive and crucial role in realizing the goals and missions of higher education both quantitatively and qualitatively. Therefore, it is necessary to study their performance and qualifications in various aspects, especially in the realm of teaching and to consider the effect of such qualifications on increasing the quality of students’ learning and their educational achievement. In this regard, the main goal of this study was to present a structural model of faculty members’ perceived teaching competency and the academic gains of education and psychology students of Shiraz University in the academic year 1392-93.Research Hypothesis: In relation to the research objective, the following hypothesis was proposed and tested. Faculty members’ perceived teaching competencies are significant predictors of university students’ academic gains. The research method employed in this study is correlational and descriptive. The statistical population included all the students in the School of Education and Psychology at Shiraz University in the year 1392-93. The participants were 220 students (123 women and 97 men) who were selected through simple random sampling method. All of the participants completed a researcher-made questionnaire on faculty members’ teaching competencies covering nine domains (developing a climate conducive to learning, actively engaging the learners in the learning process, assessing a learner’s knowledge, skills & attitudes, facilitating achievement of educational goals, providing feedback to learners, reflecting on and assessing one’s own teaching competencies, and fostering self-directed and lifelong learning) and a researcher-made questionnaire on university students’ academic gains covering four domains of professional, individual, academic, and mental gains. After the validity and reliability of the instruments were checked, they were distributed among the participants. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS 19 and LISREL 8.54. Descriptive and inferential statistics including mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation, and structural equation modeling were benefited from in this regard. According to the literature review and importance of faculty members’ perceived teaching competencies in the success of educational organizations to achieve educational and organizational desirability and also to create favorable conditions for the development of student's academic achievements, in this research a hypothesized model was considered of the structural relationship between the faculty members’ perceived teaching competencies and students’ academic achievements. The results of the study indicated that: 1) the dominant component of faculty members’ teaching competencies from the viewpoint of university students was the creation of favorable learning atmosphere (M= 3.30); 2) The dominant component of university students’ academic gains from the viewpoint of college students was individual gain (M= 3.36); 3) There was a positive and significant relationship between the components of teaching competencies and components of academic gains; 4) Faculty members’ teaching competencies had a positive and significant effect (β=0.73, P<0.01, t = 6.99) on university students’ academic gains. It was also found that faculty members’ teaching competencies could predict 44% of the variance in university students’ academic gains. According to the results, achieving the educational goals and giving feedback to students, and creating a conducive atmosphere to learning had the highest and lowest factor loading respectively (0.49 & 0.34). Out of the students’ achievement variables, professional achievement and personal growth respectively had the highest and lowest factor loading (0.54 vs. 0.44). Model fitness indexes of the model were also confirmed.Discussion and From the students’ perspective, the highest average score for the perceived teaching competencies of the faculty members belonged to creating a conductive atmosphere to learning. Some possible reasons could be stated for this including creating stimulating learning environment for all the students, accepting the individual limitations of the students by faculty members, considering the same assignments for all the students, availability of faculty members to all the students, and mutual respect between students and faculty members. It can also be concluded that faculty members’ teaching competencies can directly affect university students’ academic gains.In general, according to the results, it can be found that the desirability of perceived teaching competencies of faculty members contribute to improving students’ educational achievement. This is because they can improve the students’ individual, professional and educational gains by communicating with them, recognizing their interests, capabilities, and abilities and also by selecting an appropriate method to convey educational concepts.The first limitation of the study is related to the sample of participants based on which the findings of the study are only generalizable to the students of education and psychology. Anotherlimitation of the study is related to self-reporting; that is, some students may have provided their answers based on what is socially desirable. It is suggested that other data collection methods such as interviews and behavior observation be employed in such a context to obtain more dependable data. In addition to using other data collection instruments, suggestion is made to make use of other measurement methods in order to obtain some generalizability evidence of the findings.