Causal Factors Affecting the Perception of Teaching Management Ability of Lower Secondary School Teachers in Opportunity Expansion Schools under Surin Primary Educational Service Area Office 3

Abstract

This research aimed to test the goodness-of-fit of a causal relationship model with empirical data and to study the total, direct, and indirect influences of causal factors affecting the perceived teaching competence of lower secondary school teachers in 
opportunity expansion schools under the Surin Primary Educational Service Area Office 3. The sample consisted of 575 teachers and educational personnel from opportunity expansion schools under the Surin Primary Educational Service Area Office 3 during the academic year 2024, obtained through multi-stage random sampling. The research 
instrument was a two-part questionnaire: Part 1 focusing on perceived Teaching Competence, and Part 2 on the causal factors influencing perceived Teaching Competence. The item discrimination power ranged from .550 to .861, and the overall reliability coefficients ranged from .555 to .986. Statistical analysis included mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, skewness, kurtosis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).
The findings revealed: 
1) The structural equation model of causal factors affecting the perception of teaching competence of lower secondary school teachers in opportunity expansion schools under the Surin Primary Educational Service Area Office 3 was consistent with the empirical data ( = 40.18, df = 28, /df = 1.435, P-value = 0.064, RMSEA = 0.028, GFI = 0.990, AGFI = 0.963, SRMR = 0.018). 
2) The factors with direct and indirect influence on teachers' perceived teaching competence are classroom atmosphere, teachers' academic competence, and work motivation. The total influence values for these factors are 0.692, 0.360, and 0.089, respectively. All factors within the model collectively accounted for 94.90% of the variance in teachers' perceived teaching competence.