European trends and the slovak approach to teacher competences and capabilities

Abstract

A number of authors have looked into the problems involved in finding the most appropriate and fundamental competences and capablilities of a teacher that form the basis of his/her professionalism and are becoming more and more essential for changing attitudes towards requirements in the professional preparation and practice of a teacher. This trend has become evident since the 1990s with several overriding tendencies which can be easily identified. F. Oser’s model, which has been widely recognized across Europe, has been the main inspiration for the preparation of the Slovak approach towards teacher competences. The draft of the structure of a teacher competence profile in the Slovak Republic in accordance with European trends and documents is based on the teacher’s competence profile from the interactional model of education with the following three basic dimensions: the pupil, the teacher, and the teaching process which occurs between them. This is the basis for the teacher’s competence profile and it has now become a topic of public debate.