EDUCATIONAL OR SCIENTIFIC CAREER?

Abstract

One problem with teaching higher educational institutions by university professors is that the educator spends most of the time on their own scientific activities to the detriment of the pedagogical orientation of the learning process and methodology. In addition, the requirements for research and publication activity are constantly increasing, and we often encounter the concentration of teachers' attention on a scientific orientation. As a result these teachers sometimes neglect the very process of teaching students, which leads to the loss of the importance of the pedagogical component of the educational process. The overall nature of the problem lies in the importance of teaching in universities, where teaching is considered a priority activity comparable to science and research. Therefore, in our environment, we can observe a gradually increasing offer of programs to strengthen the pedagogical competencies of teachers. In this article, we decided to focus on the pedagogical component of the educational process of teachers of higher educational institutions of the Chuvash Republic and their participation in the educational program. Purpose of the study: analyze how university teachers perceive and evaluate their pedagogical competencies, that is, how university teachers perceive themselves as a teacher and at the same time how they evaluate professional development programs that are focused on systematic improvement of the level of pedagogical competencies. The research problem lies in the dilemma between the pedagogical development of university teachers (participation in professional development programs) and the concentration on the research component of teaching. The central point of this entire study is the perception of their own pedagogical development by the university teachers themselves and the assessment of the quality of professional development programs. We chose to conduct detailed interviews with 25 teachers from the Chuvash State University of the Chuvash Republic as the central method for data collection. The respondents perceive other university professors not only as scientific experts in their discipline, but also as teachers capable of providing high-quality teaching. At the same time, none of the respondents called themselves a scientific expert in their field. All respondents would like to reduce the scientific component in their pedagogical work, leaving it for some specialized scientific centers. Also, all respondents would like to pay more attention to the very pedagogical process of teaching students - transferring knowledge, communicating with students or teaching students logical thinking, and forming high-quality professional competencies in their pupils. They also pointed out that attempting to save time in the learning process of students forms a "time bomb”, which will further negatively affect the socio-cultural development of society. Most of the respondents believe that the best way to develop their pedagogical competencies is to regularly communicate with their mentors - more professionally competent people. They do not believe that the use of advanced training programs is so important.