Eight challenges for institutions who wish to handle teaching competence as a strategic quality goal
Abstract
Teaching competence is often discussed in relation to rewards of present day achievements, rather than in terms of strategic long-term quality. A call for a shift towards a long-term quality perspective on teaching competence is presented, and eight challenges, which have to be met in such a process, are identified.
These challenges concern the active responsibility of institutional management and the professoriate; promoting demands of highest academic standards for educational specialists; selecting an appropriate time-frame, and relevant concepts (with a particular focus on the excellence-concept). Further, the challenges include the teachers' understanding of their disciplines, of educational theories and of research methods relevant for evaluating educational results. The final challenge concerns programs for rewarding teachers. Taken together, these challenges presents features, which are suggested to promote a quality culture where teaching competence is seen as a long-term quality goal.
This paper was presented at EQAF and reflects the views of the named authors only.
