Teachers’ professional competence: the model of level-based assessment

Introduction. The article is devoted to the problem of assessing teachers’ professional competence, which allows to take into account complexity and variability of teaching. The purpose of the research is to present and justify the competence-based model of teachers’ professional evaluation, which is an alternative to the existing model of teachers' certification. The presented competence-based model allows to take into account the essential characteristics of modern teaching, to focus on supporting teachers’ motivation to self-improvement and removing barriers which prevent an adequate attitude to external evaluation. Materials and Methods. The study was conducted within the framework of the activity-based approach, which allowed to analyze teachers’ professional practice as the unity of value-motivational, substantive and procedural components. Applying the activity-based approach led to the consideration of teaching as an activity which is aimed at solving professional tasks. The tools for the assessment of teachers’ professional competence include diagnostic work and the criterion scale of lesson evaluation. 2300 Russian language teachers and 2295 mathematics teachers from 13 regions of the Russian Federation, and 197 experts took part in the model approbation. Results. The authors clarified the concept of ‘teacher’s professional competence’, described the system-forming function of the educational component within the structure of teacher’s professional competence, justified the usage of professional tasks hierarchy for assessing teachers’ professional competence. The study revealed the conditions for the phased evaluation of teachers’ professional competence. Conclusions. I The authors present an interpretation of the research results, identify the risks of the approbation and teachers’ difficulties and emphasize the need for assisting teachers in developing a new professional function which is promoting students’ education.