International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
KNOWLEDGE MAPPING
Defining teacher competency.
Apart from substance knowledge teacher competency consists of teaching skills and other skills required for
work in a work community. Society and generations change which means that teachers will have to develop their
teaching skills accordingly.
Koehler and Mishra (2008) have described the elements of good teaching: 1) Content 2) Pedagogy –3)
Technology 4) Context. Vaasa University of Applied Sciences has accepted the following goals for teacher
competency development:
1. Good substance knowledge =knowledge and skills up-to-date
2. Use of learner-centered, activating teaching methods which enables the student to add new information
into the previous knowledge structure and the subject matter to be learnt is saved in the long-term
memory
3. Use of various teaching methods suitable for the subject matter and the student group (e.g. projects) =
RD integration
4. Giving concrete examples of the subject matter to enhance student understanding
5. Ability to differentiate the teaching according to the student group
6. Guiding the students’ autonomous work
7. Mastery of educational technology
8. Use of various assessment methods in assessing the learning outcomes (knowledge, skills, attitudes)
9. Use of different assessment methods suitable for different types of learners
10. Giving the students various possibilities to complete studies and graduate within the standard time
11. Co-operation with the working life =regional influence
12. Ability to dimension the study unit in accordance with the student’s work load : 1 cr = 27 hours of
an average student
13. Co-operation with other teachers to avoid overlapping in teaching
14. Giving the assessment of the performances and entering the grades into Winha within the agreed
time
15. Use of various assessment methods for AHOT and giving the assessment of the performances within
the agreed time
16. Complying with the instructions of pedagogical activities approved at VAMK
17. Considering the feedback from the students on the study units when planning and implementing
teaching
18. Active participation personnel training (VAMKs own training and EduLab ) as agreed in the
appraisal discussions
19. All learning material is available for the students on Moodle. The objective is that the student’s
energy is not directed to copying the teacher’s texts
20. Networking
Knowledge mapping at VAMK.
The competencies of VAMK personnel were surveyed twice with a similar questionnaire at VAMK in spring
2012 and 2013. These surveys were conducted before defining VAMK knowledge map. The basis for the
questions in the survey was the competency criteria in current job advertisements, and the competency criteria at
levels 6 and 7 in EQF (European Qualification Framework) required from university graduates. The surveys
included an inquiry for the whole personnel about common competency, for the managers about manager
competency, and for the teachers about their pedagogic competency. Teacher competency consists of substance
knowledge but also of teaching skills and other skills needed in the work community. Society and generations
change which means that teachers will have to develop their teaching skills accordingly.
Pedagogic competency. VAMK teachers were asked to evaluate their pedagogic competency from the point
of view of substance knowledge, ICT skills, and teaching methods supporting learning process. There are about
150 teachers at VAMK of whom 93 participated in the survey in 2012 and 110 in 2013. The weaknesses
concerned especially the knowledge of business life and mastery of video conferencing, as well as project and
process-based teaching. 65 in-service trainings have been organized for VAMK personnel from autumn 2010 to
spring 2013 of which 6 have been language training, 21 ACT training, 14 trainings concerning teaching, and 4
internationality.
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