Competences of the teacher

The concept competence comes from the Latin word competentia meaning authority, competence, area of actuation, reach of competence. In its widest meaning, it is understood as the ability or skill to carry out certain activities successfully in working areas or life situations. However, when defining the concept of competence, there appear certain differences and we dare to claim that there does not exist unequivocally accepted definition of this concept neither in the general level nor in the relation to the teaching profession. From the sociological point of view, it is possible to understand the concept of competence as influence or formal authority and, from the legal point of view, as power or right and, from the managerial point of view, as quality of performance. The concept of competence is characterized in the following way:

The general value of professionality Mareš, J., / . Logically connected activities of the teacher which are supporting the learning of pupils (Kyriacou, Ch., 1996). The complex ability including knowledge, skills, attitudes and

personal characteristic features of the teacher (Spilková, V., 2001). The set of specific skills necessary to perform the profession which is reflected in the observable activities of the teacher Šnídlová, .

J. Veteška , p. defines the competence as a unique ability of the man to perform and carry out his/her potential successfully in the sense I can - I want - I know . J.

Dytrtová – M. Krhutová (2009, p. 50) characterize competences in a very simplified way as subject matter frameworks describing the profession . Regarding to this, we understand the professional competences as a complex qualification to perform the profession successfully. They include knowledge, skills, attitudes, values as well as personal assumptions and characteristic features necessary to perform a specific profession. Subsequently, we can understand the competences of the teacher as a complex qualification formed by a set of knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes, values, convictions and personal characteristic features necessary to perform the teaching profession successfully. The expert literature mentions many different attitudes to the division of the competences of the teacher.

We can identify several attitudes in the way of defining the set of competences of the teacher:

 Defining of the competences of teachers according to the components of the undergraduate preparation. In this way we differentiate: pedagogic-psychological competences and subject-specialization competences. However, this attitude was rejected at the beginning of the 90´s because the synthesis of these areas is inevitable by performing of the teaching profession.

 Defining the competences of the teacher according to the

teacher´s activities at the lesson (e.g. Kyriaciou, 1996) or the competences according to the teacher´s roles (Vonk, 1992), or the Model of the ideal teacher which was elaborated by OECD (Quality of Teaching, 1994).

 At the beginning of the 21st century the models of competences of the teacher are moved in the direction from the so called model of minimal competences of the teacher (the teacher as a transmitter of knowledge) towards the understanding of a wide and open professionality of the teaching profession. In 2002, according to these intentions, the competences of the teacher were defined in two areas by the European expert group:

1. Competences related to the process of teaching, 2. Competences related to the results of teaching.

Based on these principles of the humanistic-oriented pedagogy and psychology, Z. Helus (2001)distinguishes four basic competences of the teacher which form the inevitable assumption of whatever teaching qualification. They are these competences:

 Pedagogical competence – it represents a set of abilities and skills of the teacher to plan, organize and lead the processes of learning of pupils with regard to their developmental and individual particularities. The pedagogical competence means the ability of empathy, the ability to eliminate the obstacles and barriers in the learning of pupils, the ability to motivate pupils to learn, to diagnose the developmental level of the pupil and to project optimal pedagogical interventions;

 Subject-didactic competence – it represents a set of abilities

necessary for managing of the contents of the given subject and the ability of the creative didactic and psycho-didactic transformation of the subject matter;

 Pedagogical-organizational competence – it represents a set of abilities of the effective forming of the educational environment with regard to the guidance of relationships and activities in the school class.

With respect to these mentioned basic competences, Z.

Helus (2001) subsequently formulated also other competences of the teacher which support the development of the pupil’s personality. They are innovative competences whose basis is represented by a set of abilities of the teacher to introduce pupils into particular areas of life. More precisely, the competence to introduce pupils to the possibilities of independent movement in the information areas (to read effectively, to process information, to work with information-communication technologies… , the competence to introduce learners to the problematic area of the value orientations cultivation of the value orientation of learners… , the competence to introduce pupils to the culture of different forms of interpersonal relationships (comradeship, friendship, partnership, citizenship… , the competence to introduce learners to the responsible relationship to themselves (to lead them to the self-development, self-education, self-realization… . B. Kosová and B. Kasáčová , p. elaborated the so called interactional model of competences of the teacher with three basic dimensions: the pupil, the teacher and the running educational process between them. There are defined these competences in the particular dimensions:

1. Dimension of the child/pupil.

The teacher must be able to identify the developmental and individual characteristic features of the child (to know, to diagnose and be able to work with individual specific features of the child - talent, disorders), to identify the psychological and social factors of learning (to know the theories of teaching, to be aware and to diagnose the individual learning styles of pupils, to know and be able to identify the psychic, physical and social conditions of learning), to identify the socio-cultural context of the development of the pupil (to be aware, to know and to identify the socio-cultural background of the child).

2. Dimension of the educational process.

The teacher must be able:

● to mediate the contents of education – to dominate the subject matter of the given subjects, to plan and project the teaching (to know how to create educational plans, projects, educational situations with regard to the school curriculum), to assign the aims of the educational process oriented to the pupil, to do the psycho-didactic analysis (to know how to choose basic and extensional topics), to choose and carry out teaching methods and forms (to know and use the methods and forms supporting the active learning of the child effectively), to evaluate the course and results of teaching and learning (to know the ways of evaluation, to determine the criteria and to assess pupils regarding their individual abilities),

● to create the conditions of education – to create a positive climate in the class (to be able to communicate effectively with the pupil, to know his/her environment, to solve conflicts, discipline, to create a facilitating relationship), to

create and use the material and technological background of teaching (to use the information-communication technologies in the teaching process creatively),

● to influence the pupil’s personal development - to be able to influence the personal development of the pupil (to know and apply the strategies of personal development - self-confidence, autoregulation), to develop the social skills and attitudes of the pupil, to prevent and correct the social-pathological phenomena and disorders of behaviour.

3. Dimension of the self-development of the teacher.

The teacher must be able of professional improvement and self-development (to know how to diagnose, evaluate his/her own pedagogic activity, to plan his/her own progress, to be prepared for the teaching research in the methodological way), to be able to identify himself/herself with his/her professional role and school (to identify himself/herself with the role of the teacher, to know the aims of development of the school, to present himself/herself as a representative of this profession).

The filling of the mentioned dimensions with knowledge, skills and attitudes creates a specific competence profile of the teacher. The competence profile represents a synthesis of professional and personal competences. These kinds of competences determine and complete each other mutually.

In the professional competences of the teacher there we can describe also specific competences. These are represented by knowledge, skills and attitudes of the teacher necessary for the fulfilling of specific tasks and functions in the educational-formative process – e.g. the teacher as an educational counsellor, a chairman of the subject committee or the methodical association, etc. Also J. Duchovičová and G. Petrová , p. emphasize

the need to strengthen the specific competences of teachers. They write that teachers cannot be only professionals in their subject anymore, but they must be also pedagogues who are able to respect the needs, the individuality and the specific cognitive features of their learners, including their special educational-formative needs, in the teaching process. Therefore, it is indispensable to strengthen the specific competences of teachers.

Subsequently, the mentioned competences become the basis of creating the profile of the graduates of the Faculty of Education. The filling of graduate’s particular competences with skills and abilities will be dependent on the degree of a school the graduate is prepared for.

2.1.2 Process of developing the