Factors in uencing the success in professional skills competitions

This article deals with professional mastery competitions in Russian education as an important part of the national system of teacher growth. The annual wide participation in them and the constant rotation of the participants allow us to speak about the contests as the most e ective way of the teachers’ professional development. The performance of a contestant depends on many factors, the degree of in uence of which is studied on the basis of both open and collected by the author data of the contest “Teacher of the Year of Russia”, as the most status of all competitions held at the moment. The in uence of such factors as participant’s region, teaching subject, gender, age, work experience and status of educational institution on the result is investigated. Changes in the concept of competitive tests and approaches to their evaluation throughout the history of the competition are discussed in detail. The author o ers his own approach to performance, considering not only absolute victory, as traditionally accepted in the competition movement, but also the achievement of the titles “laureate” and “prizewinner”. This approach allows us to rethink stereotypes in the preparation of teachers for competitive tests and increase motivation to participate in such events