Lecture-14: developing professional competence of the teacher

A conceptual framework of teachers’ professional competence Guerriero and Revai (2017) start off by defining teacher competence as:

‘a broad term referring to the ability to meet complex demands in a given context by mobilizing various psychosocial (cognitive, functional, personal and ethical) resources. In this sense competence is dynamic and process-oriented, and includes the capacity to use and to adapt knowledge.‘ (p.261) (see Figure 1).

As the authors note, this conceptual framework is based on teacher learning, with the learning coming from a number of different sources, be it initial teacher trainingAbbreviated to ITT, the period of academic study and time in..., in-service CPD or informal or non-formal learning. Indeed, these opportunities to learn will influence teachers’ professional competences on an ongoing basis throughout their careers. Within this model, opportunities to learn will influence teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge and have affective motivational competences and beliefs. Guerriero and Revai note the work of Shulman (1986, 1987) to show how content and pedagogical knowledge have three specificc categories: subject knowledge; knowledge of teaching; and knowledge of learning, including knowledge of teaching and learning processes particular to both the subject and general teaching. Guerriero and R.vai (2017) state that affective motivational competences include aspects
‘such as career choice motivation, achievement motivation and goal orientation, but also teachers’ belief about their subject area, about teaching and learning, as well as their perceptions of teaching and of the profession’. (p.262)
Affective and motivation competences are, however, also influenced by how teachers view the extent to which they have self-efficacy.
But teacher knowledge, motivational competences and beliefs are not in themselves enough to lead to teacher competence (i.e. ‘the ability to meet complex demands in a given context by mobilizing various psychosocial (cognitive, functional, personal and ethical) resources’ (Guerriero and Revai, p.261). As such, teachers also need to be able to use their knowledge and expertise to make quick-fi re decisions in response to what they see within the classroom and other settings. To this end, Guerriero and Revai cite the work of Seidel et al. (2011), who identify three aspects of the decision-making and reasoning process:
1. ‘The ability to describe what has been noticed.
2. Higher-order processes to connect the observed classroom event to prior knowledge and understanding of teaching and learning.
3. Knowledge-based reasoning processes to evaluate and predict what might happen as a result of connecting the observed situation to prior knowledge of teaching and learning.
As such, decision-making and professional judgement provide the connection between formal knowledge, competencies and teaching, as noted by Guerriero and Revai in the context of this model of professional competence.
The next aspect of their model of professional competence considers the teaching strategies and practical approaches that a teacher may decide to use as a consequence of deploying their professional judgment. These strategies could include, for example, approaches to planning and preparation, the classroom environment, teaching and their professional responsibilities. However, we must not forget that these strategies now need to be put in place and used alongside their teaching, and it is only at this stage the diverse elements of the teacher’s competence make it into the classroom. It is at this next stage that we hope to have pupil/student learning consisting of two inter-related elements, the cognitive and the emotional.
So, having briefly summarised Guerriero and Revai’s conceptual model of teachers’ professional competence, it is necessary to map out how teachers having access to research journals will lead to changes in the level of a teacher’s professional competence and subsequent changes in pupil learning.