Al-Hikmah University Journal

Teaching is viewed as a knowledge-rich profession. The quality of a teacher depends on teacher Content Knowledge (CK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and this contributes to students’ academic performance. This study therefore assessed physics teachers’ knowledge and justified it on the need for professional development in Zamfara state. The target population comprised 40 physics teachers teaching physics in secondary schools in the Gusau educational zone. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 32 physics teachers. The instrument used for data collection was a paper-pencil test tagged as the Criterion Assessment Test (CAT). The CAT assessed physics teachers' content and pedagogical content knowledge. The instrument was validated, pilot tested and had a reliability coefficient of 0.89 using Crombach’s alpha coefficient. The findings revealed that physics teachers are averagely knowledgeable in CK and PCK to teach physics at secondary schools as their mean score is 57.6%. However, a significant difference existed between qualified and unqualified physics teachers’ knowledge; the significant difference existed among their knowledge based on experience, though it is between highly experienced and less experienced, moderately experienced and less experienced but no significant difference between highly experienced and moderately experienced. There was no significant difference between physics teachers’ knowledge based on gender. The findings indicated the need for professional development for physics teachers in Zamfara state especially unqualified physics teachers and newly incoming teachers. It was recommended among others that professional development should be provided for physics teachers