����Ӱ��

On 21October, TU celebrated the 95^th anniversary of teacher education. According to Kristi Vinter, Director of TU Institute of Educational Sciences, we must abandon the traditional image of the ‘teacher’. “Knowledge is no longer the teacher’s monopoly and this in turn also changes the teacher’s role,” pointed out Vinter. “A clever teacher shows the way, is a partner, supervises, guides and sometimes is even a fellow learner.”

The issues of teacher professionalism, teaching quality and a teacher’s role are becoming increasingly important topics in society especially with increasing economic competition. Effective learning environments and methods are being sought; international comparison surveys (PISA, TALIS, PIAAC and others) rank student achievements as well as teaching staff, and the OECD educational policy reports focus on presenting the best practices.

“The one important key person in all of the above mentioned issues is the teacher,” stresses Kristi Vinter. “The teacher’s role and his or her professional skills are extremely relevant in regard to the economic success of members of society and their ability to cope.”

“Computer and technological skills are not the only things that already put the student above the teacher in the first grade, but also the fact that children nowadays actually start to divide themselves between two realities from a very early age,” admitted Vinter. “Today’s teacher has to be very flexible. The very same Internet that brings new sciences into our home can also make a child much wiser than a primary school teacher in some issues. This is the skill of critical evaluation of information that is not taught enough nowadays at school, but should be taught from an early age.”

A good (smart) teacher is now evaluated throughout the world on the basis of changed criteria, such as different international comparative surveys (TALIS, PISA and others) and various assessment scales that are now being used. “In the light of international comparative studies, the disadvantage that an Estonian teacher has is low self-efficiency. The main basis for changing the teacher´s role – involving learners, study partnerships, which are characterized by flexibility and a quick response to changes, creativity in applying teaching methods and others –all rely largely on this self-efficiency,” recognized Vinter.

Education systems globally are under increasing pressure to use digital technology in order to provide skills and knowledge to students for coping in the 21^st century. The number of scientific studies on the topics of relating digital technology to education, as well as teacher professionalism and changing roles are continually increasing. “Digital technology is certainly not the only magic wand for coping with big changes, but it is rather impossible to imagine our modern world and education without it,” says Vinter.

“Of course examples can be quoted from top PISA countries (such as China, Korea, Japan), where the high achievements of students are a result of immense pressure for first-class performances and efforts, which are steered by a controlling teacher. But in a cultural sphere that values uniqueness and the wellbeing of people, teaching and the role of a teacher is moving more and more towards individuality and learning partnerships,” points out Vinter. “We should think for a moment about whether the high results attained in PISA tests in Estonia are more related to the strictness and sternness typical of eastern cultures or rather to the consideration of individuality and flexibility that are characteristic of the Netherlands and Finland for example, which are close to us in the ranking list.”

Although the individual qualities of a student largely determine the success of achievements, thousands of studies focus on the relationship between a teacher’s interaction style, supervision strategies, personality, behaviour, etc. and the academic achievement of a student. When studying the results of these surveys, there is no reason to think that the old-fashioned stiff and strict teacher image would support and help a student.