A study of the role of conscientiousness and parameters of professional qualifications in the effectiveness of teachers’ performance: A structural equation modeling approach

The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between conscientiousness and professional qualifications of teachers. The research was descriptive and correlational in nature. The population included all school teachers in secondary schools of the city of Marivan with 610 (N=610) in 2015-2016 academic year. 235 teachers were selected through stratified sampling. The instruments were three standard questionnaires of professional competencies of teachers, conscientiousness of NEO and effectiveness of teacher’s assessment that was a researcher-made questionnaire. The reliability of questionnaires, using Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the professional competencies of teachers was 0.94, conscientiousness of NEO was 0.82, and the effectiveness of teacher’s assessment was calculated to be 0.88. The results revealed that professional competencies can predict teachers' efficacy per se, but mere conscientiousness cannot predict teachers' efficacy, however, it can do so by the mediating role of professional competency. Also, findings confirmed that conscientiousness had little power in predicting teachers' efficacy, while professional competencies had more power in predicting teachers' efficacy.