The students’ needs: the competencies of a modern teacher

Experts in the field of education discussed the need to change the system of teacher training

The training of school teachers is one of the most difficult tasks of the educational system. Especially now, when new methods appear every year. To what extent do the methods of teaching familiar to university teachers meet modern requirements for a teacher and what should be changed?

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Teachers need constant professional support at the school level and methodological associations

Digital technologies and technological progress that never stop for a second require teachers to be constantly involved in the process. To speak the same language with children, the teacher must constantly improve, find interesting approaches and show creativity. Without this, the educational process cannot be effective.

Within the framework of the round table, the director of the Institute of Education Management Jennifer Molton divided the change in attitude towards teachers and their training into three stages.

Several decades ago, the following statement was true: “School has always been an ideological tool.” Parents were not allowed to the school process. It was believed that the future builders of communism could be educated only by a specially trained person – a teacher.

Jennifer noted that in 1984 the last peaceful reform in the education system was carried out. She did not accuse the teacher of not meeting modern requirements. Textbooks were stable, and methodists were “recruited” from the best teachers.

In the period that came to an end in 2005, for the first time there was a statement that the teacher was not ready for the environment in education. At the same moment, the decline in the prestige of the profession began to be observed. Control over the work of teachers has intensified: prototypes of standards and certification have emerged.

– This is the period when, as it seems to me, negative selection for the profession related to economic circumstances began for the first time. That is a mass exodus from the profession to more profitable areas, – summed up Jennifer.

After 2010, new tools and new institutions for the development of education appeared – not only the teacher but also regional educational programs. One of the main innovations was the Unified State Exam, which is why, according to many teachers, the learning process in high school turned into “coaching for final exams”.

The teacher ceases to be the only source of information. Municipal methodological services are slowly but surely becoming obsolete. Yes, professional communities are emerging, but everyone is now engaged in professional development – everyone teaches and everyone issues certificates with the required number of hours.

What do we get in the end? Within the framework of the national project “Education”, the system of assessing the quality of a teacher’s work is changing, but professional development programs are still based on provisions developed 10-20 years ago. Quality assessment centers and the need to improve qualifications are among the most painful topics for teachers.

The most serious deficit that teachers have is a lack of professional reflection. Experts believe that regular external assessment will help teachers objectively assess their abilities and skills to later improve existing ones and acquire missing ones.

Required competencies

Many teachers still do not understand the difference between project activities and case studies. From this misunderstanding, the inability to organize and direct the work of the students during the creation of projects or the analysis of cases is born.

What competencies does a modern teacher need to be successful? 

It is now a popular statement that teachers need to develop soft skills. They should be formed at the stage of higher education. Experts note that it is possible to talk about something well, but it is better to immerse it in the process, to show it clearly. It is necessary to think about how to prepare university teachers.

The teacher should have formed competencies. First of all, knowledge of the subject. Teachers should know various teaching methods, psychology and have the ability to work with parents. These are hard skills. And personal competencies are motivation, the desire to improve, critical thinking, communication, cooperation, and creativity.

Researchers surveyed teachers to find out what skills they lack for a full-fledged job. First of all, teachers noted that they want to learn how to build individual educational trajectories and ensure the prevention of their burnout.

In the list of desired competencies was the ability to psychologically help the students and solve their conflicts. In a society where bullying flourishes, teachers try to help their pupils, but they do not always have enough skills and practice for this.

Working with students with disabilities also causes difficulties. Understandably, parents want to send their children to a regular class, but teachers are often not ready for this. And it’s not a matter of unwillingness to work with such kids. Sometimes they do not have enough knowledge, and sometimes the classroom environment itself cannot teach a child with disabilities.

A teacher is one of the professions that cannot be radically changed with the help of technological progress.

You can create high-tech equipment for doctors or robots that can replace surgeons in particularly complex operations, but you cannot replace a teacher.

Technologies can only act as an assistant or intermediary between a teacher and a student.

Teachers rarely know themselves what problems they have, so we launch intensive. It is based on 24 cases on six competencies that we took from John Hetty’s research. Selecting competencies for the intensive, we took only those factors that directly depend only on the teacher, – said the expert of the project. Textbook

Teachers evaluate students every day, but they don’t like to get grades themselves. Especially if the results are publicly available. The intensive development is based on a soft and safe diagnosis – only the teacher sees the result. At the same time, you can compare your indicator with the general indicators of teachers from this area (elementary school, mathematics, English, etc.).

Also, within each competence, special recommendations have been prepared in the form of a selection of materials that can be used for self-development. Thus, quality control will not only be painless but also pleasant.

Diagnostics is not only a way to identify deficits, but also to identify their strengths. Experts are sure that teachers should not be left alone with their problems, they need constant professional support at the school level and methodological associations.

Experts see the answer to the question of how to train effective teachers in changing the system of professional education of future teachers. To begin with, it is necessary to prepare teachers who will be able to teach future teachers the skills necessary in their work.

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