Mediating Effect of Pedagogical Competence of Teachers on the Attitudes – Academic Achievement Correlation

Abstract

Poor academic achievement in Mathematics is alarming. This study aimed to determine the significance of the mediating effect of pedagogical competence of teachers on the relationship between attitude and academic achievement of students in mathematics. Using mediation analysis, involving 180 samples selected through simple random sampling, it was revealed that the interest variable does not significantly mediate (path a, p=0.186 and path b, p=0.118) the correlation between the predictive and criterion variables. Hence, the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) was objected.  Further research may be undertaken to validate the conclusion of this study and test the strength of the theory.