Development of Transversal Competences: A Current Challenge in Teacher Education

Abstract

This study responds to the growing demand to adapt the content and methods of teacher training programs to reflect the rapid emergence of new, nonpareil 21st century professions in the labour market, predominantly due to the information technology revolution. It is clear that future teachers will increasingly be expected to have a wider range of professional teaching skills, but also transversal skills and competences. For this purpose, a Slovak research team at Matej Bel University prepared an experiment by transforming a traditional foreign language CLIL course into a new course Global Encounters in Local Settings, aimed at developing not only pre-service teachers’ multilingual and intercultural competences, but also a variety of other transversal skills and competences (critical thinking, intercultural competence, time management, teamwork, plurilingual and interpersonal communication skills and others). The innovative components in the new course are student-centredness, service learning and the collaboration between domestic and foreign students. GELS pilot teaching was launched in February 2020 and has been repeated during four following semesters (up to December 2021), despite severe pandemic constraints. The author presents some results from the verification of this pedagogical innovation in the teachers’ university training curriculum. It has been tested by three quantitative-qualitative research methods: pre-term and post-term questionnaires, content analysis of students’ seminar work, reflective individual diaries and group reports. Although the results from all of them are briefly stated, this focused on the results from the last mentioned analysis – diaries and group reports. The results of the data analysis show that this innovation has proved to be feasible and effective in achieving an increase in students’ transversal skills, especially project management skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills, ICT skills, time and project management, tolerance and flexibility, critical and reflective thinking skills and open-mindedness.