SUBJECT AREA TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT NEEDS DURING THE TRANSITION TO TEACHING IN A SECOND LANGUAGE

Abstract

A partial transfer into teaching in the Estonian language is being implemented in Russian-medium upper secondary schools in Estonia. Among teachers who have to switch to teaching in Estonian are also subject who have previously taught in the Russian language. A number of surveys have shown that there are teachers who believe that methodological support of the transfer is not sufficient. Hence, it is important to find out if there is a need for additional in-service teacher training during the transfer period, and if yes, then what kind of training is required. A model of subject teachers’ professional competences was devised. The need analysis was conducted by the structural survey method among focus groups of subject teachers. Six Estonian Russian upper secondary schools were selected for the study on the basis of the representativeness of the criteria set to focus groups. The representative groups were offered to evaluate by rating professional competences, needs for additional in-service training, and, finally, needs for language support. The data were analyzed by the Pearson’s correlation and by the analysis of the variations range of the three measured criteria at the level of separate schools and their teacher teams and at the level of indicators’ mean values. The research has not revealed any common data in either strong or weak points of teachers’ professional competences. Each school has a professional profile of its own. The need for in-service professional training depends on the professional profile of each school (correlation 0.835÷0.908). The need for language support is also highly correlated with the conscious need for training. Recommendations. Planning of partial transfer to teaching in the Estonian language, as well as an additional in-service training and language support should be based on the needs of a particular school. The system of in-service teacher training should take into consideration all components of teachers’ professional competences while offering additional in-service training and language support on a regular basis. While implementing partial transfer of Russian-medium schools into teaching in the Estonian language it is absolutely necessary to apply an individual approach to each and every school. Key words: competence development needs, teachers’ professional competence, transition to teaching in a second language.