Jens Gardesten
Department of Educational Sciences, Linnaeus University
jens.gardesten@lnu.se
Teaching competence – something to learn or something that has to be controlled?
In Sweden there are some contemporary teaching reforms enabling teachers to improve their
teaching competence and knowledge. A presumption within these reforms is that teaching is
something that you always can improve and therefore never should be seen as “completed”. Similar
opinions can be articulated when teachers assess student teachers´ performances in School Based
Teacher Education, SBTE (Hegender, 2010).
However there are as well policy texts that emphasize the importance of controlling teaching
competence, suggesting that teaching isn´t something that everyone has the talent to do. As a
consequence gatekeeping function should be highlighted enabling only the right persons to enter the
profession.
In total the structure of teaching competence could be viewed firstly as an “essential basecompetence” where gatekeeping stations should be more emphasized, and thereafter specific sub
competencies focusing learning and development.
But how can one understand such an “essential base” in terms of content and in terms of
gatekeeping versus learning strategies?
I will discuss some preliminary results of my Phd research project where teachers, acting as mentors
during SBTE, give an answer to how they perceive “essential base-competence”. By interviewing
mentors that recently suggested a failure grade in SBTE it is possible to understand how these
respondents articulate the “lower limit” in this context. Preliminary results suggest that “the
essential base”, when articulated in this context, consists of subtle communication aspects including
nonverbal signals. The respondents describe for example the importance of being directed towards
the children and to the pupils, or showing a will to respond and participate in communication and
interaction. Moreover they describe the importance of the ability to involve the children and their
perspectives into the interaction processes – and at the same time respecting one owns´ perspective
and notion of the communicative situation. In this sense it could be of crucial importance to be able
to set limits in a firm and determined way when necessary, for example when misbehaviors occurs.
The findings are discussed using an intersubjective theory of pedagogy in a broad sense, adding a
specific theory of recognition. Finally suggestions of how to proceed is presented included more
empirical input to what is seen as the “essential base” and how to understand gatekeeping versus
learning strategies in this sense.