Page 134 - Štremfel, Urška, ed., 2016. Student (Under)achievement: Perspectives, Approaches, Challenges. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut. Digital Library, Documenta 11.
P. 134
Teachers’ Competencies
Developed competencies are the fundamental conditions in contemporary
definitions of what makes effective and high-quality teaching and good teach-
ers. It is impossible to unambiguously define which competencies can be de-
veloped to make good teachers and what this concept actually includes. The
question of whether a certain competence can be learnt or taught at all, out-
side of real-life situations in performing an activity, should also not be over-
looked. The latter depends mainly on the definition of the word ‘competence’.
Another thing to consider are parallel factors that impact teachers’ devel-
opment and thus indirectly their teaching and student outcomes. These could
roughly be divided into (1) internal factors (teachers’ beliefs, subjective opin-
ions, competencies) and (2) external factors (which include various forms of
formal education and knowledge improvements by the teacher, implementa-
tion of innovations, changes to the education system as well as informal influ-
ences, such as the school environment, parents’ influence etc.).
In general, recent decades have seen strong support for the belief that
134 teachers should require in-depth pedagogical knowledge, including notions
about teaching and learning, alongside the knowledge of the subject matter
taught. The reasons for this belief can also be sought in the raised awareness
of the fact that society not only needs educated individuals (in the traditional
sense of the phrase, i.e. those who acquired a certain amount of knowledge),
but rather competent, active and responsible individuals, as only they will be
able to solve future problems that cannot be anticipated today.
From a historical point of view, competencies appeared as a concept in
connection with vocational training and were in the past mainly synonymous
with professional competencies. According to Webster’s Dictionary (1913), the
origins of the concept of competence date back to 1596. In recent decades,
competencies have gradually gained in importance after first being estab-
lished within the economy. The pioneering work in this area is the 1973 article
Testing for Competence Rather Than for Intelligence by psychologist David Mc-
Clelland. McClelland stated that IQ and personality tests do not present an ad-
equate indicator of an individual’s potential regarding his/her work efficiency,
and proposed that competence assessment be added to the mix (Stoof et al.,
2002: 349).
In recent decades the concept of competence has been used in an increas-
ingly wide area and has become deeply entrenched and recognisable in the
field of education where it has been present since the 1970s and increasingly
more so since the 1990s (cf. Štefanc, 2012). However, like most other matters in
the area of education, it is not unambiguously defined and critics of its intro-
duction into the area of general education have also voiced their opinions. The
quality of implementing the education process is undoubtedly linked to the
student (under)achievement: perspectives, approaches, challenges
Developed competencies are the fundamental conditions in contemporary
definitions of what makes effective and high-quality teaching and good teach-
ers. It is impossible to unambiguously define which competencies can be de-
veloped to make good teachers and what this concept actually includes. The
question of whether a certain competence can be learnt or taught at all, out-
side of real-life situations in performing an activity, should also not be over-
looked. The latter depends mainly on the definition of the word ‘competence’.
Another thing to consider are parallel factors that impact teachers’ devel-
opment and thus indirectly their teaching and student outcomes. These could
roughly be divided into (1) internal factors (teachers’ beliefs, subjective opin-
ions, competencies) and (2) external factors (which include various forms of
formal education and knowledge improvements by the teacher, implementa-
tion of innovations, changes to the education system as well as informal influ-
ences, such as the school environment, parents’ influence etc.).
In general, recent decades have seen strong support for the belief that
134 teachers should require in-depth pedagogical knowledge, including notions
about teaching and learning, alongside the knowledge of the subject matter
taught. The reasons for this belief can also be sought in the raised awareness
of the fact that society not only needs educated individuals (in the traditional
sense of the phrase, i.e. those who acquired a certain amount of knowledge),
but rather competent, active and responsible individuals, as only they will be
able to solve future problems that cannot be anticipated today.
From a historical point of view, competencies appeared as a concept in
connection with vocational training and were in the past mainly synonymous
with professional competencies. According to Webster’s Dictionary (1913), the
origins of the concept of competence date back to 1596. In recent decades,
competencies have gradually gained in importance after first being estab-
lished within the economy. The pioneering work in this area is the 1973 article
Testing for Competence Rather Than for Intelligence by psychologist David Mc-
Clelland. McClelland stated that IQ and personality tests do not present an ad-
equate indicator of an individual’s potential regarding his/her work efficiency,
and proposed that competence assessment be added to the mix (Stoof et al.,
2002: 349).
In recent decades the concept of competence has been used in an increas-
ingly wide area and has become deeply entrenched and recognisable in the
field of education where it has been present since the 1970s and increasingly
more so since the 1990s (cf. Štefanc, 2012). However, like most other matters in
the area of education, it is not unambiguously defined and critics of its intro-
duction into the area of general education have also voiced their opinions. The
quality of implementing the education process is undoubtedly linked to the
student (under)achievement: perspectives, approaches, challenges
