The Impact of Teacher Competencies, Academic Supervision, and Principal Leadership on Teacher Performance in the Gambia's Government High Schools

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INTRODUCTION
Teachers play an essential role in strengthening and sustaining the quality of education, as well as in the lives of the students to whom they pass on knowledge.Learners spend the majority of their time in school and interacting with their teachers, so teachers have an immediate impact on their process of learning.It can be stated that teachers play a significant role and are the primary determinant of student quality and competencies.More frequently than otherwise, teachers' roles in education extend beyond merely passing on quality ISSN: 2808-103X Proceedings homepage: https://conferenceproceedings.ump.ac.id/index.php/pssh/issue/view/29101 knowledge rather to include acting as an external parent, role model, counsellor, and so on.The present day necessitates high-quality personnel with creative mindsets and innovative skills who are prepared and capable to compete (C. Anwar et al., 2018;Lase, 2019;Meutia, 2021).
The leadership of any academic institution aspires to acquire and maintain highly passionate and efficient qualified teachers who are competent in bringing about high quality teaching and effective results.School leaders' ability to oversee the collective educational process at schools through collaborative and thoughtful reflection endeavors that are appropriate for the school is critical to the change process (Kovaevi & Hallinger, 2019).
To achieve this, teachers must improve their academic qualities and get appropriate administrative leadership and supervision to make a positive impact on their performance and outcomes.Education quality remains low mainly because of teachers' poor performance in enhancing education quality (Margot & Kettler, 2019).
Meanwhile, highly trained and qualified teachers are leaving their professions in search of betterpaying jobs in order to meet their basic needs owing to a lack of effective leadership, incentive or motivation, favorable working conditions, job satisfaction in schools, and so on.As a result, there has been and continues to be a high level of teacher turnover in recent years.It is understood that there can be no quality learning without quality educators.As a result, improving the quality of education is only possible with also improving the quality of teachers.Increased teacher competency is required to improve educational quality.The Ministry of Education, as the government's representative, should continue to carry out education and training, seminars, workshops, and curriculum guidance, in order to boost teacher competencies and credentials by providing scholarships to teachers to further their studies.Arguably the most important requirements for quality education is the presence of teachers and school principals who are professional, prosperous, competent, and honorable (Elly & Soraya, 2020;Halim, 2020).
The principal, vice principal, and designated senior teachers can conduct supervision to ensure that teachers conduct their roles and obligations professionally and as expected.Supervision is done with the goal of enhancing the method of learning in order to improve a teacher's performance, since supervision is meant to develop the learning procedure, specifically by assisting teachers to boost the quality of teaching in order to aid students' education more effectively (Kaso et al., 2021).The primary mission of educational supervision is to offer teacher assistance in enhancing the process of learning, as well as to assist and motivate teachers to deliver lessons more efficiently, thereby increasing educational quality (Irmayani et al., 2018).
Poor academic performance among young high school graduates in The Gambia has confronted both the government and stakeholders.Stakeholders have expressed concern that the standard of education is deteriorating due to insufficient quality control in education in regards to recruitment of teachers, enrollment of students, monitoring, supervision, and evaluation of schools, conduct of exams, retention of quality experienced teachers, and a variety of other factors.Academic failure of Gambian students in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in the past few years is concerning, and teachers' performance bears some of the fault.According to the community, education constitutes one of the most efficient methods to maximize human resources.(Tobari et al, 2018;Andriani et al, 2018;Fitria et al, 2019;Kristiawan et al, 2019).The aim of this research is to determine the impact of teacher competencies, academic supervisors, and principal leadership on teacher performance.

RESEARCH AND METHOD
This study employed quantitative research methods and analyzed research data with the aid of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS).The research looked at three independent variables (teacher competencies, academic supervisors, and principal leadership) as well as one dependent variable (teacher performance).
To select participants, a simple random sampling technique was applied, with each participant having an equal likelihood of being chosen.The study used a 20-item questionnaire created by the researchers.The data collection technique used is a questionnaire and an interview to collect information from the participants.Based on a simple random sampling method, the questionnaire was given out online to both teachers and supervisors.One week was set aside for responding to the questionnaire.The instrument was created using research variables that were transformed into indicators that could be determined and then used as a reference in creating statements for respondents to answer.
The study's target population was teachers at Government Senior High Schools in The Gambia's Regional Education Directorates I and II, excluding grant-aided schools.According to Table 1, the value of the Adjusted R Square regression coefficient (determinant coefficient) in the results shown above is 0.687, which suggests that the teacher competencies (X1), academic supervisor (X2), and principal's leadership (X3) have a 68.7% influence on teachers' performance (Y) in the government senior high schools of regional education directorate I&II in The Gambia, while the remaining 31.3% is influenced by factors that are not in the table.

Reliability Test and Validity Test
A validity test is performed in this study to ensure the validity or ability to execute a precise investigation with appropriate tools and circumstances to yield suitable and reliable data that could be reproduced.As a result, each item in the questionnaire is correlated to a total score, and the results are compared to a 5% significance level.A Reliability Test is used to determine whether a tool can produce consistent results over time and whether it is reliable or trustworthy.The relationship is expressed by the coefficient "r," and the value should be greater than 0.70 for all variables to be considered reliable, indicating that the question item or variable is reliable or trustworthy.
On the other hand, the Validity Test for variables teacher competencies(X1), academic supervisor(X2), principal's leadership(X3) and teachers' performance(Y) showed the result of r-calculate is higher than r-table.The degree of freedom (Df) is 125 -2 = 123 and the significant level at 0.05 is 0.1757.This suggests that all question items on these variables are valid.It can be described using the regression equation in Table 3 above: a) A constant of 0.207 indicates that if teacher competencies (COM), academic supervisor (SUP), and principal's leadership (LED) are all equal to zero, then teacher performance is 0.207.b) Teacher Competencies (X1) coefficient = 0.373, indicating that teacher competencies (COM) have a positive influence on performance when SUP and LED are both equal to zero.c) Academic Supervision (X2) coefficient = 0.294, indicating that academic supervision (SUP) has a positive influence on performance when COM and LED are both equal to zero.d) When COM and SUP = 0, the principal's leadership Coefficient (X3) = 0.169, indicating that there is a positive influence of principal's leadership (LED), and that when the leadership increases, so will performance.

T-Test Influence of Teacher Competences (X1) on Teacher Performance
The test results obtained through the use of SPSS coefficients are shown in the coefficients table section of Table 3 above, the teacher competences (X1) variable has a significant value of 0.000.The degree of freedom (df) is 120 (125 -5) so that the t-table becomes 1.65765.The t-value is greater than the value of the ttable (4.554 > 1.65765), with a significant of 0.000 which is less than the significant level of 0.05 (0.000 < 0.05).It is possible to conclude that hypothesis X1 is correct and that teacher competencies have a positive and significant influence on teacher performance.As a result, this suggests that teacher competencies have a positive and significant influence on teacher performance (Y).Schools in the Gambia, for example, perform better than others when teachers have higher qualifications, attend education seminars, training, workshops, curriculum assistance, and experiences with a series of supervisory together with adherence to the school's principles and policies.The results of this research agrees with findings of Karim et al.,2021, who discovered a link between Teacher Professional Competence and Teacher Performance.Other studies that supported the findings of Teacher Competences having a positive and significant influence on teacher performance include (Suratman et al., 2020).

Influence of Academic Supervision (X2) on Teacher Performance
According to the SPSS Coefficients output in Table 3, it indicates that the academic supervision (X2) variable has a significant value of 0.05 which is less than or equal to 0.05 (0.05 ≤ 0.05).The degree of freedom (df) is 120 (125 -5) so that the table is 1.65765.The t-value is greater than the t-table which stands at 2.846 (2.846 > 1.65765).As a result, the hypothesis of academic supervision (X2) is accepted, and academic supervision has a positive and significant influence on teacher performance (Y).The Academic Supervisor will assist in increasing teachers' self-esteem in accordance with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which is related to dignity, confidence, competence, independence, and freedom.For example, schools that implement a series of supervisory programs to assist teachers in improving and developing the learning process by providing resources that aid in the education process, improving the quality of teachers' knowledge and skills, and providing guidance in terms of curriculum implementation, use of teaching methods, and learning tools are more likely to perform better than those who are hesitant to do so.This study's findings are consistent with those of Kurniatie et al., 2022, who  Based on the results of the SPSS "Coefficients" output in Table 3 above, the principal's leadership (X3) has a calculated value of 0.019.The degree of freedom (df) is 120 (125 -5) so that the t-table is 1.65765.The tvalue is greater than the value of the t-table (2.377 > 1.65765), with a significant of the variable of 0.019 which is less than the significant level of 0.05 (0.019 < 0.05).As a result, this finding concludes that the principal's leadership variable (X3) has a positive and significant influence on teachers' performance (Y).Recently, there have occurred numerous clashes in schools among teachers and between teachers and students.An absence of effective leadership can give rise to chaos and insecurity.According to (The Fatu Network, 2022), a student harmed a teacher with a razor, causing him to sustain cuts around the upper part of his eye and certain parts of his chest.Top-performing schools in The Gambia have strong leadership that strictly adheres to rules, regulations, and principles in order to achieve their objectives and vision while also improving performance.The study's findings are consistent with those of (Mahaputra & Saputra, 2021), (Kaso et al., 2019), (Zarwini et al., 2022), (Fauzi et al., 2022), Nababan (2022), and Suartini et al ( 2020), which show that leadership influences performance.

CONCLUSION
In light of the analyses of the data and hypothesis test results, the following conclusions are drawn: the impact of teacher competencies on teacher performance is positive and significant in government high schools in The Gambia's regions I&II, implying that as teachers' competencies improve, so does their performance.
Academic supervision has a positive and significant impact on teacher performance in government high schools in The Gambia's regions I&II, implying that adequate supervision will improve teachers' performance.The impact of principal leadership on teacher performance is positive and significant in government high schools in The Gambia's regions I&II, indicating that good principal leadership improves teacher performance.
The implication entails that all variables, including teacher competencies, academic supervision, and principal leadership, should continue to improve in order to strengthen teacher performance and education quality.This study was limited to government high schools in The Gambia's Regional Education Directorates I and II.I recommend that future researchers conduct research on all schools, whether government, governmentaided, private, or Madrassas, on other factors that influence teacher performance in senior high schools.

Results and Discussion Coefficient of Determination Test (R2)
Regions I have 144 teachers andRegion II has 514 teachers, for a total of 658 teachers (MoBSE's educational statistics Year Book 2021).The coefficient of determination gauges the extent to which the model explains the variance in the dependent variable.

Table 1 .
Coefficient of Determination Test ResultsModel Summary b

Table 2 .
Reliability Test ResultsBased on Table2above, the value of Cronbach's alpha is above 0.70, thus all questions in this research are said to be reliable.

Table 3 .
Multiple Linear Regression Analysis ResultsCoefficients a discovered that clinical supervision influences teacher performance in their study.