Provision of appropriate knowledge and skills in the field of a study and application of modern educational methods and practices are the two core components of a strategy of training for any educational institutions. Having appropriate knowledge of the subject matter (content + skills) of the field of study is one thing and knowing about methods of teaching is another. For a profession other than teaching, the former may be enough, for the teaching profession, however, both are inseparable and support each other.Byrne (1983) found a positive relationship between subject matter knowledge and teachers’ performance. Monk and King (1994) also found that teachers’ content preparation, i.e., knowledge of the material to be taught is positively related to students’ achievement. Taking a subject knowledge test or reasonable number of courses relevant to the field of study and learning for specialization enrich knowledge in the subject matter. This is not, however, enough in teaching.As many research works have shown, the positive effects of subject matter knowledge are augmented or offset by knowledge of how to teach the subject to various kinds of students. That is the degree of pedagogical skills may interact with subject matter knowledge to bolster or reduce teacher performance.Nowadays, larger number of private higher institutions are providing trainings to the needy; however, the reporter of this study could not find a research paper reflecting the strength/weakness of academic competency of instructors teaching at such institutions, nor at the government ones. This study was, therefore, sought to examine the subject matter knowledge and pedagogical know-how of instructors teaching at private health sciences colleges. The focus group was taken from Addis Ababa Medical College, Keamed Medical College, and Central University College.Two types of questionnaires were administered (one for the instructors and the other for the students) to be able to collect appropriate data which again were properly tabulated and analyzed. The paper found out two important findings: first, the exposure of larger number of instructors to unorganized and inappropriate demonstration classes (while they were attending their university learning) created in them a gap in transferring adequate skills to the students and made them to lose interest and responsibility to coordinate the practical classes, i.e., demonstrations and apprenticeships. Second, almost all respondent instructors hadn’t had any forms of pedagogical trainings/skills which brought failure in properly managing/handling/facilitating and leading the teaching and learning activities.Finally, recommendations have been forwarded based on the findings to be addressed so that the colleges where this study was conducted, and other similar institutions will be able to take advantage of them and contribute to producing capable health sciences personnels
