Teacher specialists: „Authority” in relation to social
competence
Alena Vališová, Pavel Andres
Jiří Šubrt
dept. of Engineering pedagogy
Czech Technical University in Prague, Masaryk Institute of
Advanced Studies
Prague, Czech Republic
alena.valisova@muvs.cvut.cz, pavel.andres@muvs.cvut.cz
Dept. of Historical Sociology
Charles University, Faculty of Humanities
Prague, Czech Republic
jiri.subrt@fhs.cuni.cz
Abstract—This discussion deals with the term “social
competence”, explains its meaning in pedagogical interaction and
offers ways to develop these skills within a specific group –
teacher specialists of technical subjects.
ability” or „social efficiency“. These entail such adequate use
of motoric, mental and emotional ways of behaviour,
capabilities, attitudes and skills, to deal successfully with some
practical and important life situations.
Keywords—social competence; authority; pedagogical and
psychological preparation.
This is very closely connected with exercising one's
individual independence (i.e. the skill to organize and direct
independently one's own private matters) and with social
responsibility (meaning responsibility to the self, to other
people and to wider society). The level of individual
independence and responsibility determines the social maturity
of a person. Related to a teacher´s personality, social
competence is also thought of as appropriate teacher behaviour,
perceiving processes of group dynamics, reacting adequately
and bringing them into line; as well as the capability of team
work and working with adults. Social competence is the result
of social maturity, and it is developed during the ontogenesis of
an individual. Even an adult can develop his or her social
capability by means of constant social learning, training and
repeating.
I.
INTRODUCTION
What does the social achievement of pedagogical, teaching,
tutorial, parental, student and- generally stated- human
activities depend on? What are the necessary conditions of
being accepted, respected and appreciated by other people?
Certainly the qualifications, professional and technical
knowledge, personal qualities, work results, general
appearance and image of a person should be mentioned as very
important conditions of social achievement. But without
communication abilities, without knowledge of effective tactics
and strategies in interpersonal relations, even someone with an
excellent education can (in all kinds of social situations) easily
fail.
This contribution to the discussion will concern the
definition of the term „social competence", will explain the
meaning of this competence in pedagogical interaction and also
ways to develop the social abilities and skills of teachers
specialists.
II.
HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE TERM „SOCIAL
COMPETENCE “?
It is common in many branches of science and research that
some theoretical terms are not unambiguously explained and,
of course „social competence” is no exception. In specialised
literature its explanation varies. The substance of „social
competence” is usually theoretically developed in connection
with the following terms: social-psychological competence,
work-professional
social
competence,
interpersonal
competence, teaching-methodological competence of action,
interactive competence and communicative competence.
I do not see my task as some kind of detailed analysis of the
above terms. I would rather refer to the content-difficulty of its
definition. In our contemporary pedagogical and psychological
literature we find the terms „social competence” or „social
III. WHAT ARE THE INTERRELATIONS BETWEEN
TEACHER SPECIALISTS AUTHORITY AND
EDUCATION
When defining the term “authority” the scientific
interpretation must necessarily be taken into account. In
professional literature there is no constant interpretation of the
authority conception and it is a very complicated term, often
used very freely and inaccurately in ways open to
misinterpretation. Authority is considered to be personal and
natural, but is also connected with power, rulers, official or
directive authority; it is also used in relation to authoritative
conduct- the authority of supervisors, adults, parents and older
people, educator’s and teacher’s authority, the authoritative,
autocratic and authoritarian style of education, the authoritarian
personality, anti-authoritative pedagogy, the authoritative style
of management, and social pressure.
The confusion concerning its content is unfortunately
characteristic of the modern time and obscures an important
range of other terms associated with authority (e.g. freedom,
discipline, manipulation, responsibility, blame, influence,
power, values, standards). The elaboration of a more complex
theoretical basis will follow in the present grant project,
978-1-4799-8706-1/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
20-24 September 2015, Florence, Italy
Proceedings of 2015 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL)
placing an accent on the comparison of theoretical papers from
abroad.
The process of looking for interrelations between education
and authority can be viewed and discussed on three interlinked
levels and the approach to each of them depends on the
following points of view:
a)macro-social (involves above all the interrelations
between authority and education in society in its broadest
context);
b)micro-social or interpersonal (largely concerning
topics such as values, conduct, standards, rules and principles
which are determined e.g. by family life or rules of conduct at
school);
c)interpersonal (aimed at the investigation of the
process of learning standards and value-orientation from
others; in general the influence of individuals).
In particular, attention in the present project will be paid to
the interpersonal level. We are convinced that for our purposes
this will be satisfactorily dealt by the proposed research
investigation. How can the relation between authority and
education be expressed? The standards and values of society
are based on authority and they can also be enforced through it.
Their presentation meanwhile is a matter for the educational
process in conjunction with educational styles, the approach of
parents, the kind of management and the calibration of
emotional relations between adults and children, teachers and
students.
Education and authority can be perceived as having the
same origin and therefore authority cannot be separated from
education – in both cases it concerns the presentation of the
values and standards of society.
IV. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TEACHER´S
AUTHORITY AND SOCIAL COMPETENCE
In connection with questions of the teacher´s social
competence problems of authority and manipulation, freedom
and responsibility are usually discussed. After all, do we really
need authority and manipulation in education? What kind of
relations between freedom and responsibility can be found in
the educational process? How much can these relations
influence the quality of development of young people´s social
competence and their social behaviour?
With the term „authority” such expressions as duty, power,
fear, manipulation, service, career, competence, responsibility,
rules, order, discipline, obedience, etc. are connected. I do not
want to analyse such complicated associations here. I am only
trying to point out some general preconditions of „natural
authority“:
• a high professional and qualification level
• the art of leading and managing a working team
• the art of non-violent arguing and negotiation
• the capability of motivating others to raise their work
output
• the art of combining tolerance, humour, strictness and
perseverance
• the capability of coping with emotions towards oneself
and others
• the art of determining mutual rules of interpersonal
contact and work duties and a common respect for them
• the art of giving praise and criticism
• a broadly natural image and cultured manner
V.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHER SPECIALISTS'
SOCIAL COMPETENCE
In some aspects of interaction with students the teacher
specialist can feel certain problems especially in competence of
expression, in social sensitivity, in discovering and accepting
emotions, in the sphere of assertiveness, in the capacity of
giving and accepting feed-back, etc. At other times an
individual feature that negatively influences the creation of
good relations with students, colleagues and chiefs (e. g.
intolerance, dominance, lability, rigidity, trend to conformity,
fault-finding), can bring many problems. These shortcomings
can be eliminated with the help of high quality pedagogical and
psychological preparation (in theoretical and applied forms).
The conception of the pedagogical and psychological
preparation of the teacher-engineer should probably respect:
a)the demand for a balance of particular components
of socio-professional preparation (knowledge, activities,
values)
b)the demand for a balance of theoretical and practical
components of psychological and pedagogical preparation
c)the demand for a balance of empirical (based on
experience) and cognitive (based on knowledge) activities
Professional preparation of teachers specialists from the
perspective of strategies of behaviour should lead to:
• the development of social competence
• the creation of autonomy in teachers' actions
There are many growing questions in the professional
preparation of teacher specialists. Is it possible to reach high
professionalism within the framework of preparatory or other
education or only in practise? What role can introspection and
self-education have in the professional preparation of teachers?
What part in the development of teacher specialists' social
competence should the lessons of psychology and pedagogy
really play? What methodical principles may be used for
developing their social capabilities?
• the capability of communicating and cooperating with
the group
VI. TEACHER TRAINING – ALTERNATIVE
APROACHES
• the capability of pre-empting conflicts and eventually
solving them
In some aspects of interaction with students the teacher
specialist can feel certain problems especially in competence of
expression, in social sensitivity, in discovering and accepting
978-1-4799-8706-1/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
20-24 September 2015, Florence, Italy
Proceedings of 2015 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL)
the emotions, in the sphere of assertiveness, in the capability of
giving and accepting feed-back, etc.
At other times an individual feature that negatively
influences the creation of good relations with students,
colleagues and chiefs (e. g. intolerance, dominance, lability,
rigidity, trend to conformity, orientation on fault), can cause
many problems. These can be eliminated with the help of the
high quality pedagogical and psychological preparation of
teacher specialists.
From the perspective of developing interactive
competences as a whole complex of social capabilities first of
all me may use:
a)the theoretical and applied teaching of social
sciences- psychology, pedagogy, philosophy, ethic, sociology
etc.;
b)forms of separate short-term courses in social
capabilities with variable orientations for teachers at
technical schools of different types and level (communication,
rhetoric, assertiveness, drama, conflicts resolution, training in
cooperative skills, etc.)
The development of social competence (above all, that of
students and teachers in different types and levels of school), is
a special sphere to which I have been paying (in theory and in
practice) great attention for years.
VII. CONCLUSION
It seems that authority has scarcely disappeared from the
world – it is however perceived in different contexts and
altered ways. The authority of the adult towards children has
not disappeared either but only assumes new shapes and forms.
The mentioned circumstances of course by no means facilitate
seeking answers to the basic question: how the authority of an
adult towards a child should be perceived, on what it should be
based and how it should be used.
The following statements represent some observations on
the phenomenon of authority and a consequent recommended
Decalogue:
• Authority is a multidimensional and multidisciplinary
conception.
• Authority does not mean authoritarianism.
• Authority is not in contradiction with criticism.
• Authority does not necessarily lead to conformity.
• Authority expresses relationship.
• The aspect of relativity and asymmetry in perception of
the authority.
• Specifics of accepting and development of authority in
different social environment.
• Development of authority as a long-tem process.
• Danger of relativization of the authority in social
context.
The term authority also accords with such expressions as
discipline, power, freedom, responsibility, morality, law, duty,
tolerance, rule, fear … True authority, however, cannot be only
sought in schools but also among parents, citizens, politicians,
in law, legal systems and in the social system. This is the only
way in which young people can have faith and confidence in
authority. School as an institution, school management and a
team of educators can develop many positive features in young
people but what they certainly cannot do is to replace the
family and society. I think these are common problems which
go well beyond our country - the Czech Republic.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This article is the part of the project „Authority and
Alteration of its Concept in Educational Environment” of
Czech science foundation GAČR (P407/10/0796).
REFERENCES
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teachers. (Pedagogická a psychologická příprava učitelů opdborných
předmětů). Prague: ISV 2004.
[2] Vališová, A. Assertiveness in family and school. (Asertivita v rodině a
ve škole). Prague: H+H, 1998.
[3] Vališová, A. , Kasíková, H. et al. Pedagogy for Teachers. Prague: Grada
Publishing 2011.
[4] Andres, P., Vališová, A. Institucionální vzdělávání učitelů – techniků.
Lifelong Learning – Celoživotní vzdělávání. Brno: Mendelova
univerzita, Institut celoživotního vzdělání, roč. 2014, roč. 3, s. 8-23.
• The conception of authority does not constitute an
isolated problem.
978-1-4799-8706-1/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
20-24 September 2015, Florence, Italy
Proceedings of 2015 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL)