Teachers’ self-evaluation of generic and didactic competencies

Abstract

Competent teacher is one of the most important factors contributing to the quality of education especially in the context of constant changes in the educational environment and the teacher’s role. According to the contemporary practice applied in many institutions, human resources are managed on the basis of competencies’ models. School is not an exception. Lithuania has officially defined the competencies necessary for the teachers of general education schools. However systematic models don’t exist and assessment of the teachers’ competencies on the grounds of such models is not performed. Therefore, the purpose of this research was – evaluation of level of teachers’ generic and didactic competencies, their relative importance and developmental needs from the perspective of the teachers themselves. Quantitative methodology – representative survey of the teachers was carried out. 865 teachers representing Lithuanian general education schools participated in the survey. Didactic competencies were defined according to the official legal documents and definition of generic competencies was based on Hay/McBer dictionary of the competencies taking into consideration legal regulations. The main results of the research indicated that the most developed teachers’ competencies were considered to be schoolchildren achievement and advancement recognition, assessment and provision of support in learning and schoolchildren motivation. Analysis of the research data demonstrated the tendencies of teachers’ work area self-perception. Lithuanian teachers tend to perceive their work within the boundaries of their specialization, not to accept leadership roles, they consider themselves as not much involved in schoolchildren career development processes and not necessitating to perform professional action research.