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4PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
A COMPARISON OF VIEWPOINTS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY TEACHER
Georgieva S.D.
Professor, PhD, Department of Technology Education, Entrepreneurship and Visual Arts
Faculty of Pedagogy, Shumen University „ K. Preslavski" DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7673027
Abstract
The teacher of the 21st century must be creative, communicative and proactive. To develop their own competences, to monitor new trends in education and technology, to know how to update the educational content according to the specific needs of students. The teacher of the new era must have reflexivity about his competences and personal qualities, allowing him to fulfill new significant roles in education. In this context, the article presents and compares the perspectives of teachers and students regarding the competence profile of the modern teacher. On the basis of the comparison between the expressed opinions of the researched persons (117 teachers, 143 students), the trends for the significant competences that are necessary for modern pedagogical specialists in order to form adaptive individuals capable of constructive thinking and adequate decisions are outlined.
Keywords: teacher competencies, 21st century skills, perspectives.
At the present moment, the regulations in the system of preschool and school education in Bulgaria regulate the functions, education and professional qualification necessary for occupying the positions of teachers, directors and other pedagogical specialists, their professional profiles and specify the knowledge, skills and attitudes, which should be possessed by pedagogical specialists [3]. Teacher competences are defined as „Pedagogical" and „Social and Civic", with key aspects of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that a modern teacher must possess. They are differentiated in more detail, as in the initial professional training teachers are required to have theoretical knowledge of the subject they teach, to master teaching and learning methodology, including applying a competence approach; to know innovative educational technologies and information and communication technologies to integrate and apply in the educational process; to orient learning according to the individual needs and abilities of the students depending on the cognitive, emotional and physical development of the individual age groups. Teachers must master techniques for education and socialization of students and develop their personal skills for communication, critical and constructive thinking, for effective search, retrieval, selection and assessment of the usefulness of information from various sources. It is important that they have knowledge of working in a multicultural environment and of supporting and motivating students with special educational needs, chronic illnesses, learning difficulties or at risk, as well as gifted students. Last but not least, in their work they must know and apply the code of ethics in the school community, know the rights of the child and respect professional ethics. Also, in their work, they are required to monitor the achievements of students and to have studied the latest achievements of science and good practices in the field of pedagogy, psychology and methodology of the subjects they teach. The competences regulated according to the state educational standard are in line with the modern knowledge, skills and attitudes that teachers must form in students in order for them to be prepared for a full and meaningful
life, to be successful in the labor market, to be motivated for continuous improvement of the competences acquired in the training process, to be socially engaged in the democratic processes of the world in which they live, to have a vision for the future and to follow their dreams.
Dynamic changes in the 21st century reflect on the competence and personality profiles of teachers. A number of scholars are investigating the new competencies that the young generation must possess, as well as those that their teachers need to have in order to form them in students. The training in the higher school, which forms the professional competences of the teacher, should be humanized in order to provide an opportunity for competence training of future teachers, for the formation of a value system, for understanding the world as an integral system of semantic reality, for positive and purposeful communication [8]. Senko supports this statement by making a connection between humanization, culture and the development of cultural values and competences and the quality of the educational process, i.e. he considers that quality is directly related to the humanization of education and the development of cultural competences [4]. The emphasis of teaching in higher education should be directed to how to develop students' creative, innovative, practical, associative, personal-collective, open, critical thinking, both in the learning process and in the education process [6]. T. Valova summarizes: „Analyzed in the light of the reform in the higher education system, the main emphasis in the training of pedagogical staff is the preparation of highly qualified, competent specialists, with innovative and creative thinking, who are capable of solving complex professional cases in the course of constantly changing conditions. The tendency to give priority attention to the development of pedagogical competence and professional training of students - future teachers, is a global trend" [1].
Acquired in the context of very good pedagogical communication, the methodological knowledge and skills of future teachers should be aimed both at their academic training and at the abilities to develop young people and prepare them for a fulfilling life in the 21st
century [5]. Higher education, preparing teachers for the conditions of competence-oriented education, should pay attention not only to narrowly specialized training, but also to the education of moral and spiritual qualities of the future teacher, to the formation of his worldview positions [7]. Among the social expectations of the century, according to V. Gyurova, is that teachers should be able to form students as citizens of the 21st century, including as citizens of their countries and their democratic societies, of Europe and of the world, by rethinking their work through the prism of the modern culture of human and child rights [2]. The possibility of forming and developing social and civic competences among students and developing a democratic culture, as well as other educational activities -teaching a healthy lifestyle, educating an ecological culture, a culture of communication that requires an understanding of difference, etc. , is based on the knowledge and skills that teachers have outside their academic competence. The role of the university is to form academic thinking and knowledge in the future teachers and for them to realize the importance of these knowledge and skills in their future work, and for their part, the pedagogical staff must carry out a continuous reflection of the acquired knowledge and skills in a comparison and analysis of working practices and new trends and research in pedagogical science. In the lesson, regardless of the fact that the student is at the center of the educational process, the interaction is two-way (teacher - student). Regardless of the variety of skills needed by the teacher in this process, many authors put their digital abilities and the ability to use information and communication technologies in the educational process in one of the first places.
Despite understanding that the 21st century teacher must meet current, emerging and future challenges by thinking creatively and innovatively in meeting students' needs and building resilience in their problem-solving skills, the content of curricula, the design of classrooms, practices targeting teachers' attitudes to overcome uncertainty in teaching and sharing good practice are not in focus in every institution [9]. The authors cite Fullan, who as early as 1994 said that the capacity of teachers to deal with change, learn from it, and help students learn from it is critical to society, and to create such thinking, it is necessary for the teacher to be an agent (initiator) of change, not a victim (victim).
In connection with defining the basic competencies of the teacher of the 21st century and determining the most significant among them, and in order to derive regularities regarding competencies such as norm, reflection and vision for the future, two parallel studies were conducted. The study covers 117 pedagogical specialists from the school education system, practicing the teaching profession at the primary, lower secondary and high school levels, and 143 students from the high school level. In the study of the opinions of pedagogical specialists and students, survey methods were used. More specifically, non-standardized anonymous surveys have been applied as a form of inquiry, with open-ended questions that allow the free sharing of opinion or attitude by the groups of researched persons (respondents) and the processing of large data sets. In the introductory part of the survey for teachers, information is requested about work experience as teachers and the stage of education in which they teach. Surveys are structurally organized according to the research design
and purpose of the study. Online tools were used - the capabilities of Google Forms for collecting and processing information.
Students are tasked with characterizing a good teacher according to their own ideas in a few sentences. As expected, they focus more on listing the personal qualities of the adult teaching them, but they also affect the competencies specified in the state educational standard for the status and professional development of teachers, principals and other pedagogical specialists in the preschool and school education system. Exceptions are made by individual opinions. The students' answers are presented as structured sentences, but in order to summarize them and derive regularities, they are analyzed by key words. The results of the summary of the data show that the interesting and comprehensible way of teaching, combined with interactive methods that attract the attention of students and are adapted according to their needs and level of acquired knowledge and skills, occupies the highest share of the expressed opinions of students ( „A good teacher should teach clearly so that the student can easily understand the lesson"; „A good teacher is one who treats students well and teaches the lessons properly"; „A good teacher should get along with his students and to find accessible and different ways of teaching in order to interest attention to the subject he teaches"; „A good teacher must be willing to teach. And be able to teach us things that are not always on the lesson"; „Yes to be understood, to teach the lessons clearly, also to be strict, but sometimes"; „To teach with interest, to know how to make students interested"; „A good teacher must combine a high level of teaching with hell adapting to students' interests". He must be able to convey the learning material in an easily digestible and interesting way. He should listen to their advice and take into account their opinion for smooth working together." etc.). The student respondents also associate their idea of a good teacher with his tolerance („He must be tolerant, responsible, well-intentioned, able to explain clearly with interesting examples for easier understanding and perception"; „A good teacher must be responsible, well-intentioned, to understand students and not separate them"; „A good teacher must be tolerant, responsible, well-intentioned, able to motivate students, able to communicate with students, help solve problem situations in class"; „The teacher must is tolerant, responsible, well-intentioned, able to motivate students, able to communicate with students, etc.). The next indicator of a good teacher according to the students is the well-intentioned teacher, which idea is related to the previous one about a good teacher and the concept is contained in some of the texts („A good teacher must communicate well-intentioned with students and be able to adapt his behavior to the emotional state of the student"; „A good teacher is a person who attracts students. He is responsive, fair and well-intentioned"; „A good-natured person who communicates with students, who can talk freely with them", etc.). Communicative and fair are characteristics that occupy an equal share in terms of frequency („Don't treat us badly. Always be communicative with his students. Motivate students with a good attitude towards tasks"; „Fair, accurate and understanding of students' condition" ; „A teacher who understands us, strict and fair"; „To be very strict, but also very fair" etc.). The summary results of the students' opinion in percentage ratio are presented in Diagram 1.
m 2,01
m 2,01
2,8
■ 2,8
Flexible Enrich his experience Good preparation for class Calm Fair
Communicative Well-intentioned Tolerant
Teaches comprehensibly and interestingly
0 5 10 15 20 25
Diagram 1. Students' opinions about the concept of a good teacher
6,99
6,99
It can be seen that, with the exception of the already mentioned aspects of the teacher's activity, which occupy a share of 6.99% to 23.78%, his preliminary preparation for the lesson, the need to enrich his experience by building competences, to be calm and considerate, are indicated by a small number of students (between 2.01% and 2.8%).
If the expressed opinions of the students are compared with those of the teachers, certain differences are observed, but also similarities (unanimity is found in terms of competences and personal qualities). The answers of the teachers are differentiated according to the stage of education in which they teach - junior high school stage of basic education and high school stage. Regardless, the age characteristics of students in the two stages are different and teachers should take this
A leader Creative
To get personal satisfaction To develop practical skills To educate Responsive Tolerant
To apply an individual approach Responsible Innovative Communicative To motivate students Well-intentioned Good scientific and methodical training
into account when developing lessons, applying an individualized and differentiated approach and methods that match the age of the students or are found to help them more to master the educational content well, most of both types of teachers refer to good scientific and methodical training as a guarantor of their fruitful work (Diagram 2).
The comparative characteristic between the opinions expressed by the teachers from the junior high school stage and those from the high school stage shows that they do not differ significantly in terms of good scientific and methodical preparation. This opinion occupies the largest share in both groups, respectively expressed by 37.74% of teachers in high school and by 34.48% of those in high school.
10
15
20
25
30
35
High school teachers
I Teachers from junior high school
0
5
Diagram 2. Opinions ofpedagogical specialists about the concept of a good teacher
22.64% of junior high school teachers and 13.79% of high school teachers agree with the need for the teacher to be benevolent, as the students also believe. This indicator is also the second most important attribute of the teacher according to the teachers at the junior high school stage (according to 22.64% of the respondents). For those from the high school stage, the quality of tolerance ranks second (indicated by 17.24% of respondents). To the extent that tolerance and benevolence are concepts with a similar content, since in both there is respect and consideration for others, knowledge and understanding of students and respect for their personality, these two qualities, taken together for both groups of respondents, are ranked second place after academic preparation. Perhaps the opinions expressed are related to the age characteristics with which the teachers work, and the need for more care and attention for the younger ones, as well as the related benevolence and tolerance. The ability to motivate students for active participation in the educational process and learning is an important characteristic of a good teacher according to 16.98% of junior high school teachers and according to 3.45% of high school respondents. It is possible that they consider that the students they teach are large and their motivation to learn is high, or that at a certain age motivation is no longer as significant as for younger students. Conversely, the surveyed high school teachers place more importance on teacher innovation, indicated by 13.79% of them, in contrast to their junior high school colleagues, of whom only 3.77% consider this quality important. Probably, attracting the attention of students eighth through ninth grade is possible with innovative methods that provoke thinking and develop creativity and build a complex of skills and qualities. With younger students, it is possible that traditional methods are effective in achieving the objectives of the lesson, or that the survey respondents do not consider it important to be innovative. A part of the investigated high school teachers (6.9%) also attach importance to responsibility as a quality of a good teacher, in contrast to the rest of the teachers, where this personal characteristic has a lower share (3.77%). The rest of the qualities of a good teacher (to apply an individual approach, to educate and develop practical skills, responsiveness, creativity) in both groups of people studied have a low share (from 1.89% in the case of teachers from the junior high school stage and 3.45% among high school teachers). Only a small proportion of high school teachers (3.45%) indicated leadership as an essential mark of a good teacher.
When analyzing the teachers' opinions according to their pedagogical experience, no significant differences are observed between the percentage distribution according to the qualities of a good teacher they indicated, but several facts are striking. Pedagogical specialists with up to 10 years of experience indicate that it is important to believe that what they do is meaningful and leads to positive results, it is necessary to be convinced of the value of education, to be interested in young people, to educate and teach them with love to knowledge, in kindness, conscientiousness and honesty. In this regard, they believe that they should teach
in an interesting way, be emotional, heartfelt and constantly improving. A characteristic feature in the thinking of teachers with work experience of 11 to 20 years is the motivation of teachers and the ability to motivate students, using an individual approach to each student, taking into account his personal qualities. It is also important for them to have a rich general culture and good communication skills, which they can use not only in communicating with students, but also in their inclusion in the educational environment. At the forefront of the thinking of teachers with more than 20 years of experience is the erudition of the teacher and the need to be a role model. They, as well as their colleagues with practice from 11 to 20 years, pay attention to the individual approach to teaching, and a small assessment of them also to the development of the competences of the student and the teacher as an inspiration, i.e. leader for students. A priority for the three categories of teachers, according to their experience as such, is very good scientific training, methodological preparation and knowledge of standards and regulations, as is the general picture from their opinions.
All teachers were given another task that required them to identify at least five significant qualities of a good teacher and rank them in order of importance. The qualities are not defined in advance and the persons studied formulate them themselves. Unlike their previous task in the survey, where they have the freedom to characterize a good teacher in free text, in this case the respondents must list specific qualities distinguishing an effective, good teacher. A wide variety of opinions was observed, with up to nine characteristics being mentioned. During the processing and analysis of the information, the significant qualities indicated by the respondents are summarized, including the most frequently repeated characteristics and are distributed according to their ranking by the respondents. The good prior preparation of the teacher again emerges as a priority (with a share of 10.91%). Along with this, the good communication skills of the modern teacher, indicated by 14.55% of the teachers who participated in the study, responsibility and patience, according to 10.91% and 12.73% of them, are in the first place. Of all the preferred qualities of a good teacher, responsibility has the highest share, ranked second in importance by 25.93% of teachers. Part of them (14.29%) define tolerance and creativity as important and rank them in third place in importance. The motivation of the modern teacher is significant according to most of the surveyed persons, but it occupies a different place in the ranking of specific qualities - 20.83% put it in fourth place, 14.81% - in second place, 13.04% - in fifth place, 10 .71% - in the third place and only 3.64% - in the first place. The quality of innovativeness, which is part of the skills to apply the competence approach in the educational process using appropriate methods and technologies for teaching and learning techniques and strategies, as well as to apply innovations in the overall activity of the school, was preferred by a total of 41, 8% of respondents, with 16.67% of them ranking it fourth in importance, 8.7% - not fifth, 7.41% - second, 5.45% - first and 3.57% third place. Creativity is related to the
innovativeness of the teacher, as it is related to the creative approach in offering new and valuable ideas in the teacher-student interaction and the overall multifaceted activity in the teaching and learning process. Perhaps in this connection, creativity is significant for 14.29% of teachers, who put it in third place in terms of importance, and between 3.64% and 8.7% of the surveyed persons rank this quality in the remaining degrees of importance. Another quality related to the diversity of cultural minorities and differences in the specific characteristics of students and their needs is tolerance. It is the value attitude towards adolescents, expressed in recognition, acceptance and understanding of different cultures, manifestation of tolerance towards other people's opinion, beliefs, behavior, desires, interests. Tolerance was rated as an important quality of a good teacher by 58.3 9% of respondents, with the highest proportion of them (17.39%) placing it in fifth place, followed by 14.29% who ranked the quality in third place, 11 .11% - in second place, 8.33% - in fourth place and 7.27% - in first place in importance. The other qualities mentioned by the researched persons, such as intelligence, organization, ambition, collegiality, awareness, flexibility and adaptability, initiative, demandingness, seriousness, conscientiousness, empathy and others receive a lower share (between 1.82% and 11.11% ).
In the context of the derivability of the competences of the 21st century teacher, certain conclusions can be drawn. Teachers prioritize one of the competencies according to the state educational standard for the status and professional development of teachers, principals and other pedagogical specialists in the system of preschool and school education - their initial good academic preparation, i.e. give importance to part of the norm, which is an aspect of pedagogical competence according to the standard. None of the teachers mentioned the importance of skills for proper planning of lessons or the educational process as teamwork in the teaching staff. Each process should be planned and organized in order to create good opportunities for its targeted implementation, followed by an analysis of what has been achieved. At the heart of the competency approach is integrated cross-curricular interaction from one subject area to another to ensure a transition from knowledge to skills. In this regard, the teamwork of pedagogical specialists in the planning and execution of activities, including in the lesson, is a significant element of their work and should be included in their idea of a good teacher, whose main task is the formation of key competencies in students. It is noteworthy that the teachers partly indicate elements of the good organization of the lesson, such as the creation and maintenance of a positive educational environment aimed at the individual needs of the students and providing support at different levels in the learning or for the personal development of the students, as well as the manifestation of innovativeness. For a large part of them, motivation is important for ensuring the quality of teaching and learning, noting both the personal motivation of the teacher and his qualities leading to student motivation. The feedback from the acquired key competences by the students is not affected, both in the skills of planning evaluation processes and in their implementation,
as well as creating conditions for self-evaluation and self-improvement of students. This is related, in addition to the reflection of knowledge and skills and the appropriate ways to monitor the progress of students, as well as the reflection and self-reflection of the teachers themselves regarding their own skills, identified deficits or the need for their development and improvement. No mention is made of specific skills promoting the acquisition of key competences among students. In part, the teacher's ability to form life skills in adolescents, namely the development of practical skills, is affected. To the extent that 21st century life skills are developed in the formation of subject competences, apart from interest activities, extracurricular and extracurricular activities, it can be assumed that innovative methods will provide such opportunities, but it is important that they are reflected and that there is a common a vision in the teaching staff for the orientation of the educational process and the priorities in it to ensure the quality of education and the formation of competences among students. In this regard, the teamwork of both the pedagogical specialists and the students is significant, which is another unaffected aspect in the expressed opinions of the pedagogical specialists. Some of the teachers recognized their important function as mediators, since the competency-based approach requires a change in focus from teaching to active learning and turning the teacher from a source of knowledge and information into a mediator who supports the independent extraction of information from students and creates conditions for its correct processing and interpretation.
Reflections on the opinions expressed by the students lead to the conclusions that they direct their thinking on the way of teaching and improving the competences of the teachers. Students pay attention to the importance of innovative teaching of knowledge and skills to create interest among learners; emphasize the knowledge that must be understandable and adapted according to the individual age characteristics of the students. The continuous continuing qualification of pedagogical specialists, for which norms have been created in the system of preschool and school education (the requirement to develop and approve qualification plans) and opportunities (a number of organizations offer up-to-date training or are available under national programs and projects) is another important aspect of the characteristics of a good teacher. The students point this out, and to the extent that good scientific and methodical training also includes ongoing qualification, be it external or internal, it can be concluded that teachers also consider this aspect as a norm, reflection and vision. This is because the trainings are planned based on reported needs for improvement of knowledge and skills, analyzed based on reflection of what was learned and applied, which should be reflected in the priorities of their future development vision. Students also associate the idea of a good teacher with the fact that he understands their needs, is tolerant and benevolent in his actions, communicates with them, i.e. to have communicative abilities, to be fair, although strict, to advise them, to be responsible, calm, considerate. These qualities coincide with those mentioned by the teachers and
are important prerequisites for the quality of teaching. They refer more to the personal abilities of the person, but also contain characteristics of the modern understanding of the formation of social and civic competences in students - tolerance, communication. Only the teacher's abilities to motivate adolescents for active learning and achievement are not affected by students, unlike pedagogical specialists, for some of whom they are the priority of a good teacher.
The two categories of researched persons (teachers and students) have similar ideas about the qualities of the teacher of the 21st century, although there are differences in some aspects regarding the degree of importance or specifying specific abilities of the teacher. In addition to the mentioned qualities of a good teacher, other knowledge and skills of the teacher can be added, which were not mentioned by the researched persons, but have an essential role in ensuring the quality of education. The organization of a developing learning environment in which opportunities for teamwork, creativity and innovation are created, including by using a digital environment, taking into account the individual abilities of each particular student and providing a chance for their improvement, decorating the classroom according to the academic focus of the subject and use of appropriate didactic materials, the teacher's skills to use situations close to life, and others, are part of the important pedagogical abilities. The main goal is, through the different approaches and teamwork in the planning, organization and conduct of the educational process, to provide opportunities for jointly acquired experience by the students and for applying the acquired knowledge in different situations, as well as for informed and joint decision-making. A significant point in this process is achieving resilience of skills and ability to adapt in a rapidly changing social and digital world.
Certain recommendations can be made in this regard. Teachers to further develop their ideas about the quality of teaching and learning by reflecting needs, achievements and new opportunities for better quality, related to the effective application of the competence approach. To pay attention to all the main aspects of the approach and place an emphasis on the result that follows from effective planning and development of a desired vision, implementation of activities and tasks, team reflection and self-reflection of the relationship between planned and executed, competences formed in students, developed, advanced applied competencies by teachers.
The idea of a good teacher should not be based primarily on the personal qualities of teachers, but should include skills relevant today that inspire and motivate students and provide effective feedback aimed at improving students' competences and their progress and created in them skills to self-assess and reflect knowledge and skills, depending on predetermined cri-
teria for progress. Teamwork in the activities of teachers in a given institution, their interaction and cooperation with colleagues from other institutions, as well as participation in European or other networks for sharing good experience and practices puts in the foreground the integrity of the educational content and the integrated efforts of all educators for quality personality development of adolescents and their preparation for life in the 21st century, as well as a culture of communication in and outside school groups in this direction.
The systemic change, the provision of a connection between the personal, social and professional expression of the modern person and the achievement of sustainability in the processes of applying the competence approach in training, management, the qualification of pedagogical specialists and other key areas in the educational process and the development of pedagogical personnel will ensure transition from knowledge to skills, so necessary for both students and teachers for life and professional realization in the 21st century.
References
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