Lifelong Learn. 2024, 14, 167-200
Pedagogical Competences of University Teachers from the Student’s Perspective
The study analyses the pedagogical competences of university teachers from the evaluative perspective of university students studying in Slovakia. The main purpose of the research was to find out to what extent the defined professional activities and personal characteristics of university teachers are important for university students. As a research instrument, we chose a non-standardized electronic Questionnaire for the Evaluation of the Quality of the Teaching Process by Students, adopted from Rovňanová (2017), not yet published. The questionnaire was modified into a form that suited our research objectives, namely the Questionnaire for Measuring the Importance of Professional Activities and Personal Characteristics of University Teachers. The research population consisted of 388 respondents, of which 90 were male and 293 were female with a mean age of 23.76. Four respondents did not indicate their gender, and one respondent classified himself as genderfluid. The results of the research showed that the most important professional activity and personal characteristic of a teacher for students is his/her respectful, non-judgmental and non-judgmental behaviour. In terms of all three competency dimensions (Dimension 1: Teacher’s focus on students in socio-cultural context; Dimension 2: Educational process; Dimension 3: Teacher’s self‑development), the educational process dimension was rated highest by the students. At the same time, the study wants to highlight the need for lifelong learning of university teachers not only in research and publication competencies, but equally in improving their pedagogical competences.
Keywords
university teacher, pedagogical competences, professional activities and characteristics of a university teacher.
