Title: Beyond the Blame Game: An Evaluation of Teacher Competency, Assessment Practices, and the Extreme Grade Disparity in Ugandan Schools
Authors: Asiimwe Isaac Kazaara, Nabaasa Desire
Volume: 9
Issue: 10
Pages: 192-201
Publication Date: 2025/10/28
Abstract:
Background: Uganda's education system exhibits extreme grade disparities where students within the same system demonstrate achievement levels ranging from excellence to complete failure, provoking debates that often attribute poor performance to teacher incompetence while overlooking complex systemic factors. Objective: This study evaluated the relationship between teacher competency, assessment practices, and grade disparities in Ugandan schools to identify systemic factors contributing to poor student performance beyond simplistic blame narratives. Methods: A mixed-methods convergent parallel design was conducted across 120 purposively selected secondary schools with 1,200 teachers, employing validated competency assessments, classroom observations, curriculum alignment analysis, and hierarchical linear modeling and structural equation modeling to examine direct and indirect pathways to student performance. Results: Teacher competency demonstrated significant positive correlations with student performance (r=0.44 to r=0.61), with pedagogical skills showing the strongest association (?=0.34, p<0.001), yet explained only 23.9% of performance variance through total effects including indirect pathways via assessment alignment and curriculum coverage. School-level factors exerted equal or greater influence, with school resources showing the largest total effect (?=0.633) and student-teacher ratios demonstrating substantial negative impact (?=-0.223). The hierarchical models revealed that 47.4% of performance variance existed between schools, with systemic factors explaining 66.2% of between-school differences, demonstrating that teacher competency operates within constraints imposed by resource availability, class sizes, and institutional contexts. Conclusion: Extreme grade disparities in Uganda emerge from complex interactions between teacher quality and systemic constraints rather than primarily from individual teacher inadequacy, necessitating coordinated reforms addressing resource inequities, class size reduction, and assessment capacity alongside teacher development. Recommendation: Implement integrated interventions that simultaneously strengthen resource allocation, reduce student-teacher ratios, and build assessment capacity within context-responsive professional development frameworks that address the systemic conditions constraining teacher effectiveness.