Master class by winners and laureates of national competitions on pedagogical mastery as a form of translating experience in development of soft skills in students – future pedagogues

Abstract

Introduction. Many of future professionals often neglect such important skills as communication, time management or teamwork. Employers are not only looking for employees with a standard set of technical skills, but also want their employees to have necessary “flexible skills”, i.e. soft skills. This is because such skills particularly enable one to realise effective and rational use of technical skills and knowledge. The aim of the study is to provide an analysis of the views of winners and laureates of national pedagogical excellence contests relative to the master class as a form of development of future teachers’ soft skills. Materials and methods. The questioning involved 88 teachers, laureates and winners of pedagogical mastery competitions. The respondents were presented with an authorly questionnaire “Master class as a form of translating experience” comprising 11 questions related to their experience of pedagogical work. The methods of mathematical statistics, such as measure of central tendency and variability; correlation analysis, were used. Survey results. The majority of the respondents (67%) consider the master class as an effective form of transferring knowledge and skills, sharing learning and teaching experience. At the same time, according to almost half of the pedagogues, the master class as a form of transferring experience in development of soft skills is fundamentally different from the traditional lesson. The correlation analysis showed that the extent of teachers’ motivation for using the innovator teachers’ experience in the former’s work does not depend on the age and pedagogical record, but depends on their awareness (r = 0.338; p < 0.05). According to the teachers, the most important abilities characterising the pedagogical mastery of a modern teacher are subject competence and learner-centeredness. The most important skills for the respondents are those forming subject-centered relations (“how I understand myself and others”; “how I act”; “how I manage myself”) which set the format of teacher-student cooperation. Conclusion. The master class can be viewed as a form enabling: projecting unique situations where students learn to think independently, work in a team; productive transfer of best pedagogical practices, etc. Among the main functions of master classes are: mentoring as an efficient form of transferring experience to young pedagogues; reflexion on own professional mastery, setting a trajectory of individual self-education and self-perfection programme.