School administration perspective on the teachers’ competencies level and development

Teacher competency is one of the main concern of the Lithuanian educational system. Exemplary teachers customize their work agendas, either eliminating unnecessary steps or entire processes or adding undocumented steps to their work processes. They seek out the data and documentation they need from sources that might not be known to others in their institutions. Lithuania has officially defined the competencies necessary for the teachers of general education schools. However systematic teachers’ competence models do not exist and assessment of the teachers’ competencies is not performed on the basis of such models. The purpose of this research was – evaluation of level of teachers’ generic and didactic competencies, their developmental needs and circumstances (context) of their development from the perspective of the school administration. Quantitative methodology – representative survey of the school administrators was carried out. 615 school directors and deputy directors representing the Lithuanian general education schools participated in the survey. The main findings of the research indicated that teacher competencies development mechanisms are operating autonomously and in isolation from the general educational strategy of the country and its strategic priorities. The need for development of teachers’ generic and didactic competencies is usually formulated not taking into consideration the preestablished competency frameworks but on the basis of available market supply of teacher training.