A survey of the pedagogical competences of teaching staff at Health shows positive developments. At the same time, there is a need to strengthen competency in areas such as e.g. digital teaching and course- and module design. The next step is a new policy for competency development.

2021.10.06 | Eva Kristina Hindby Koszyczarek

957 members of teaching staff at Health have responded to a questionnaire in which they assess their pedagogical competences. In addition to positive trends, the survey shows that there is a need to strengthen competences in a number of areas. Photo: Lars Kruse, AU Photo.

In a survey carried out at Health, members of teaching staff report stronger awareness of important teaching activities such as supervision, lectures and teaching of smaller groups compared to the same survey from 2016.

The survey, which is conducted every four years, also shows several positive trends in the teaching staff’s evaluation of their own pedagogical competences, for example in relation to awareness of learning outcomes and new teaching trends.

Potential for a competency boost

However, it also points to a number of areas that require special focus. For example, almost forty per cent of the teaching staff do not believe they have the right tools to conduct good digital teaching, and they feel more insecure when teaching digitally.

Furthermore, half of them state that they have limited knowledge of course- and module design, which is a significant challenge in terms of creating coherence and uniformity across courses.

The survey also shows that there are considerable differences in the amount of time spent on teaching activities and lessons across job categories. On average, a lecturer spends almost nine hours a week on teaching activities, while junior members of academic staff generally spend less time.

"Pedagogical competences are developed through own experiences with teaching. There should therefore be more awareness of sparring and supervision when it comes to junior members of academic staff in connection with teaching activities," says Vice-dean for Education Lise Wogensen.

Competency development aims to ensure high quality teaching

According to Lise Wogensen, the survey is an important tool in the continuing work with competency development of the teaching staff.

"We must ensure a high degree of teaching quality at the faculty by maintaining a high level of pedagogical competency among our teaching staff. In general, we have a very high level, but the survey is important because it indicates the areas that need a boost to," says Lise Wogensen, and continues:

"The university is facing the implementation of a new ministerial order which, among other things, deals with developing the competency of the teaching staff, and this is an area in which we can utilise the results of the survey. We must ensure that we continue to focus on developing our teaching staff’s pedagogical competences for the benefit of both the staff themselves and the students."

The new ministerial order on the classification of academic ranks and titles at universities came into force in January 2020. The ministerial order stipulates, among other things, that the university must ensure that academic staff who undertake teaching have the necessary pedagogical-didactic competences to carry out their specific teaching tasks.

A working group at Aarhus University has just prepared a report with recommendations on how the university can incorporate and fulfil the requirements set out in the ministerial order.

The next step is for the Committee on Education to read the report's recommendations and decide on an implementation process before it is presented to the senior management team.

Facts about the survey of pedagogical competency among teaching staff at Health:

• The survey is based on a questionnaire sent to all members of teaching staff at Health
• The survey was carried out in the period October-December 2020
• The survey is based on 957 responses, which corresponds to 47 per cent of the respondents
• The results of the survey were published in 2021
• The survey is carried out every four years in order to measure developments
• Read the complete survey

You can also read the Ministerial order on the classification of academic ranks and titles at universities (in Danish).

Contact

PhD & Associate Professor Mette Krogh Christensen
Aarhus University, Centre for Educational Development (CED) – Teaching Development
Email: mette.k.christensen@au.dk
Mobile: (+45) 9350 9038

Vice-dean for Education Lise Wogensen Bach
Aarhus University, Health
Email: lwb@au.dk
Mobile: (+45) 2548 8522