Indonesia is facing a serious problem in education. The problem is reflected in the form of low learning outcomes as shown by low PISA and TIMMS scores compared to other students of PISA and TIMMS participating countries. These results are believed to have correlation with the low quality of teachers. The Teachers and Lectures Law No. 14 Year 2005 requires teachers to be competent by mastering the four teacher competencies, i.e. pedagogical competency, personal competency, social competency, and professional competency. However, only a few are regarded as competent. Since the quality of teachers is the most important factor in improving the quality of education, the Indonesian government held a teacher certification program to increase the quality of education in Indonesia by improving teacher quality, accompanied by the provision of a professional allowance equivalent to one month’s base wage. By 2015 all teachers have been certified and only certified teachers are allowed to teach in Indonesia.

This study aims to describe the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and teaching performance of junior secondary language teachers based on the tests administered during the teacher certification program, and identify the correlation between both variables. It involved 124 junior secondary school teachers, consisting of 70 Indonesian language teachers and 54 English language teachers, from various schools in West Java Province, Indonesia. To organize research procedures, this study adopted a descriptive method used to describe the characteristics of teachers who participated in the teacher participation program, their current pedagogical content knowledge and teaching performance based on the test results. Findings show that PCK has a strong correlation with teaching performance. However, other factors such as employment status, academic qualification, and age have significant effects on the mastery of those two main variables. A further study should be conducted to gauge more sound findings.