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7MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING
INDIVIDUAL GROWTH STRATEGY FOR TEACHERS IN THE UNIVERSITIES OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
Androshchuk Iryna Mykolaivna, Ph.D. in Education,
Professor of the Department of Pedagogy, management and administration of the National Scientific Institute of Management and psychology of the SHEI "University of Educational Management" of NAES of Ukraine, doctoral student at SHEI "University of Educational Management" ofNAES of Ukraine, Kyiv; ORCID: 0000-0002-3557-793X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31435/rsglobal_ws/12072018/6045
ABSTRACT
The higher education development Strategies for 2010 - 2020 as well as the universities development Strategies include sections indicating the key role of the teacher in the framework of providing the quality of the education and the university rank, by extension. However, it does not specify the ways and means of supporting the teacher professional growth. The urgency of this scientific research is based on the theoretical substantiation of the individual strategy of teacher professional growth as an effective mechanism for supporting their professional growth.
The purpose of this scientific intelligence is to consider and theoretically substantiate the individual strategy of the teacher professional growth as an innovative technology for supporting the professional growth of teachers of the management departments in the universities of the Republic of Poland. The issues associated with the implementation of development strategies in Polish universities are characterized.
It is established that the process of creating a growth strategy for teachers of management departments in the universities of the Republic of Poland should include the following stages: preparatory (analysis of own potential, motivation, coordination of the individual strategy with the strategy of university and its structural divisions development); formative (formation of a strategic goal, strategic targets, tasks; building up a professional growth trajectory, vertical or horizontal one); content-procedural (formal, informal, informational education; development strategies for 4 components of the professional activity of teachers of the management departments in the universities of the RP); the fourth stage is reflexive (monitoring of own professional activity, stimulation, self-esteem, its comparison with the assessment of the head of the department, students and adjustment actions).
Citation: Androshchuk Iryna Mykolaivna. (2018) Individual Growth Strategy for Teachers in the Universities of the Republic of Poland. World Science. 7(35), Vol.1. doi: 10.31435/rsglobal_ws/12072018/6045
Copyright: © 2018 Androshchuk Iryna Mykolaivna. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Introduction. Socio-economic changes of Polish society, European integration processes and regulatory changes in the field of higher education have led to the fact that the actual problem is the construction and implementation of development strategies as long-term documents in all branches of
ARTICLE INFO
Received: 27 May 2018 Accepted: 29 June 2018 Published: 12 July 2018
KEYWORDS
teacher,
management department,
component,
model,
professional growth,
plan,
program,
strategy,
trajectory,
professional growth management.
the Polish society which makes it possible step-by-step approach to a long-term strategic target monitoring the effectiveness of the vision, mission and strategic goals.
Target setting. A survey of the development strategies for the universities in the Republic of Poland, questionnaires and interviews with scientific and pedagogical staff of the universities has shown that there are also infrequent practices of stimulation and managerial support for the teacher professional growth in the universities of the Republic of Poland. The higher education development Strategies for 2010 - 2020 as well as the universities development Strategies include sections indicating the key role of the teacher in the framework of providing the quality of the education and the university rank, by extension. However, it does not specify the ways and means of supporting the teacher professional growth. The urgency of this scientific research is based on the theoretical substantiation of the individual strategy of teacher professional growth as an effective mechanism for supporting their professional growth.
The objective of this scientific intelligence is to consider and theoretically substantiate the individual strategy of the teacher professional growth as an innovative technology for supporting the professional growth of teachers of the management departments in the universities of the Republic of Poland.
The furtherance of this objective involved the solution of following tasks: 1. To analyze the origin of development strategies in the field of education; 2. To substantiate the need for the development of individual growth strategies for teachers of the management departments in the universities of the Republic of Poland; 3. To describe the stages of building up strategy and its content.
Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. The problem of the professional growth of teachers and scientists is the subject of interest of both Ukrainian and foreign scholars. Domestic scientists Bibik N., Bondarchuk O., Halus O., Kremen V., Nychkalo N., Savchenko O., Oliinyk V., Tymoshko G. investigates the patterns of professional and personal growth in the context of the transition to a knowledge society, the professional growth of the andragog on the basis of the competence approach; Lukianova L., Riabova Z., Protasova N., Skrypnyk M., Oliinyk V. investigates the scientific and theoretical foundations of andragogy and scientific and methodological grounds of professional growth of andragogs in the system of higher and postgraduate education; Klokar N., Sydorenko V., Sorochan T., Serhieieva L. - principles and technologies of professional growth management of scientific and pedagogical workers. Polish scholars Antonovich D., Bugaj J., Vuitsik V., Geller M., Komada P., Oblui K. investigate the professional growth of didactic, scientific and scientific-didactic workers in the terms of the developing university.
An analysis of researches by the above-mentioned scholars makes it possible to state that it possesses an analysis of individual growth plans, individual growth programs and individual growth strategies. Nevertheless there is no thorough research concerning the individual growth strategies for the teaching staff of the management departments in the universities of the Republic of Poland. This is the urgency of this scientific intelligence.
First of all let us take a look at the definition of the plan, program and strategy for the comparison of concepts individual growth plan, individual growth program, individual growth strategy.
Plan (Eng. plan, layout, design, drawing, outline, project, scheme) - a predetermined order, a sequence of implementation of the program (work) drawn for a specific period, indicating its purpose, content, volume, methods, means, sequence, executors and terms of execution [81.
Program (Fr. programme written announcement, agendas, from Greekprógramma indication) - pre-approved (defined) action [9].
Strategy - (Ancient Greek ozparnyia, the stratum of tags is the rank of a superior military commander who has a mark, a tag, a flag, a sign, and is associated with a management talent of a strategist) is the art of leadership of social struggle, general plan for the leader and detailed in the certain activities management in the conducting this struggle which is eternal at its core, covers a long period, and aims to achieve the main, complex goal.
The strategy can be considered as a long-term, consistent, constructive, rational, backed by an ideology, resistant to environment uncertainty plan, which is accompanied by constant analysis and monitoring in the process of its implementation, and aimed at achieving success in the final result. The strategy is realized through the ability to transit from abstraction to specificity in the form of concretized plans for functional units [11].
The concept of personal growth is also important for our research. According to the definition given in the Encyclopedia of Education it is a process of personality formation as a social quality of a person as a result of their socialization and education [4, p. 787].
The above lexical meanings of the concepts plan, program, strategy, personal growth make it possible to conclude that the individual plan of teacher growth, the individual program of the teacher and the individual teacher growth strategy are non-identical concepts placed according to the principle of increasing the complexity of both the structure and the tasks.
Let us represent the above-mentioned definitions in Table 1.
Table 1. Comparative characteristics of concepts
No. Individual plan of teacher growth Individual program of teacher growth Individual strategy of teacher growth
Concept definition The document determining the order, a certain sequence of actions, indicating the purpose, content, term of execution and performers. A document reflecting the trajectory of teacher training, methods of qualitative transformation, transition from one level of professionalism to another. A document outlining the vision, mission, strategic objective and strategic goals. It is a long-term, consistent, constructive, sustainable plan constantly monitored and aimed at success.
Assessment of students and doctoral candidates are to be taken into account at the end of each cycle of didactic sessions while assessing the teacher in the framework of discharging the didactic duties. The university's statute outlines principles to receive this assessment [7]. Such estimates are optional in the process of professional growth or evaluation of educational programs. Therefore evaluation is used for evaluation in Poland! Hence such an approach generates the controversial attitude of teachers towards the evaluation of their activities as well as the unwillingness to participate in this system [2, 145 - 151].
At the same time Polish scientists point out that not all teachers are critical of the student's assessment and take it into account in professional activity [3, p. 29-32.].
Today Polish state universities have development strategies, but only a few of them carry out activities aimed at creating individual strategies for the teacher professional growth. Fig. 1. represents interrelation between university development and professional growth of teachers. System approach to professional growth of a teacher of management department is possible in the terms of construction of individual professional growth strategies for teachers of departments related to development strategies for the management department, institute, faculty and university.
Fig. 1. University development
It should be noted as a positive experience that the Jagiellonian University of Krakow has in service the works within the framework of its research carried out on the creation and implementation of strategies for the professional growth of teachers on the grounds of university development strategy. Thus this issue is included in the circle of scientific interests of Bugaj J. [1], who points to existing problems:
1. University administration largely develops strategies, missions and visions (themselves or together with their group) using their own experience, taking into account external factors (especially legal and economic); such writing to strategy, mission or vision is quite common and neither contain information linked to the other individual functional strategies; nor includes requirements for the professional teacher growth, it outlines the general direction of university development in most cases. A weak binding could be noticed between university strategies: general and faculty (no special strategies are noticed concerning only the professional teacher growth); these different strategies are worked out by different specially created groups, but it does not always work together;
2. Universities do not develop strategies for the professional teacher growth. The direction, means and methods of professional growth are often agreed upon between the teacher and his immediate superior (i. e. the head of the department - author's note), although the teacher himself oftentimes decides what areas to work out:
Bugaj J. draws attention to the fact that teachers frequently choose the scientific development trajectory, since the amount of scientific papers and participation in academic conferences could be used in the annual report for receiving the assessment and ensure professional stability or opportunity for career growth. The didactic development trajectory is chosen more rarely (the first case is the situation the teacher himself wants to improve his competencies on the preparation and conducting trainings, and in the second case is a low assessment to teacher on conducting classes, and he has a recommendation to improve the didactic competence from the head). Hardly ever a teacher improves organizational competence (in the case of individual interest in career growth).
3. The pace of individual growth depends on the capabilities of the teacher by itself, but also on the existing conditions in the universities. Herewith professional teacher growth is interrelated with the university development strategy as well as those competences possessed by the teacher.
On the basis of the foregoing let us note that building up individual strategies for teachers of the management departments in the universities of Poland is sufficiently relevant and requires a scientific approach to its creation and implementation. First of all, the teachers of the management departments have jointly to develop the structure, requirements for an individual teacher growth strategy, criteria and indicators for assessing the level of professional growth and monitoring its gain under the direction of the superior.
In our opinion, the process of creating a growth strategy should include the following stages for teachers of the management departments in the universities of the Republic of Poland:
the first stage is preparatory (analysis of own potential, motivation, coordination of the individual strategy with the university development strategy and its structural divisions);
the second stage is formative (formation of a strategic objective, strategic goals, tasks, plotting of a professional growth trajectory, vertical or horizontal one);
the third stage is content-procedural (formal, informal, informational education; development strategies for 4 components of the professional activity of teachers of the management departments in the universities of the Republic of Poland);
the fourth stage is reflexive (monitoring of own professional activity, stimulation, self-esteem, its comparison with the assessment of the head of the department, students and adjustment actions).
The problem of personal potential is studied both by Ukrainian and foreign scholars. According to given the problem of professional growth let us note that [6]:
- personal potential is a dynamic psychological system with a tendency towards sustainable achievement of goals, which allows to exceed the usual activity indicators by means of the accumulated personal opportunity resources on the way to achieve acme;
- personal potential is a complex of psychological properties representing a person the opportunity to make decisions and regulate their behavior, taking into account and assessing the situation, but based primarily on their internal imagination and criteria.
We agree with the opinion of Murashko K. that the structure of the personal potential includes: predispositions, inclinations, interests, aspiration for the creation of a new things, the manifestation of general intelligence, persistence, purposefulness, determination, diligence, ability to develop personal strategies [6].
Analysis of interviewers and questionnaires among teachers of management departments in the universities of the Republic of Poland allows to conclude that a personal capacity and motivation of teachers are different. Most of them desires to develop professionally obtaining satisfaction from the recognition their acme and high prestige among colleagues and students.
The most difficult stage according to the teachers is the formation of a strategic objective while constructing an individual strategy for professional growth. Respondents note that the indication of a career development is not always perceived in the individual strategy with understanding by the head of a department.
Let us consider the third content-procedural stage of constructing an individual strategy of professional growth. Depending on the fact that according to the Law on Higher Education of the Republic of Poland teacher professional activity consists of 3 activities (didactic, scientific and organizational), the contents of individual strategies for professional growth in our point of view must comply with it.
The section "Didactic activity" is preparation and conducting of classes, writing of textbooks, manuals, compiling of educational and work programs, courses, trainings, management of student scientific circles. Didactic workers have two possibilities for professional growth: to develop as a didactic worker or to start work on scientific research and become a scientific and educational worker. The draft Law on Education provides for a change regarding the possibility of taking up the position of professor habil. by didactic staff. Academic, scientific and pedagogical workers take the didactic activity, but scientific work is a basis for their professional growth.
Scientific activity is divided into scientific research (it is more common for scientific workers) and scientific and didactic work (more typical for scientific workers planning to move horizontally or for the didactic staff preparing to defend a doctoral thesis and wish to side with a group of researchers).
The section "Research activity" is training and self-study of research teachers, high quality research, postgraduate study, defense of doctoral (habilitation) thesis, obtaining academic degrees of a professor, professor habil. (visiting), participation in scientific grants. Strategic goal is formation of scientific school, mentor teachers, coach, horizontal and vertical professional career.
The section "Scientific and didactic activity" is self-development and self-improvement in the didactic sphere (development and publication of didactic manuals, materials for students, textbooks), participation in conferences, postgraduate studies, defense of the doctoral (habilitation) thesis, obtaining academic degrees of professor, professor habil. (visiting), horizontal professional career.
Section "Organizational activities" is related to self-management: organization of self-motivation, self-development, self-esteem, self-presentation and self-performance.
Due to the development and implementation of individual professional growth strategy of a teacher of a management departments in the universities of the Republic of Poland following issues play out:
- acquaintance of heads of the departments with the teacher prerogatives, with the strategic purpose of his professional growth;
- selection of the most effective means and mechanisms for the professional growth of teachers;
- systematic and directed professional growth of a teacher;
- organization of monitoring the professional growth of a teacher;
- facilitation of the career growth policy under the context of department activities.
Prospects for further development in this direction. Further research will be devoted to the
analysis of ways to improve the management system of professional growth of teachers of management departments in the universities of the Republic of Poland and Ukraine.
Conclusions. Therefore we have established that an individual strategy for professional growth is a document outlining the vision, mission, strategic objective and strategic goals; long-term, consistent, constructive, resistant to new conditions plan accompanied by continuous monitoring and aimed at success. Individual growth strategy for teachers of management departments is interrelated with the development strategy of the department, institute, faculty and university. 4 stages of building up an individual strategy for teacher growth: preparatory, formative, content-procedural and reflexive. The essence of didactic, scientific (scientific research and scientific didactic) and the organizational component of the professional growth are determined and disclosed for teachers of the management departments of the universities in the Republic of Poland.
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