The System of Improving Teaching Excellence in Poltava V.G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University

Abstract

The article is devoted to the issue of improving teaching skills of higher school teachers as one of the key tasks of the development of Ukrainian higher education institutions in the context of the country’s integration into European cultural and educational space. It focuses on the system of enhancing teaching excellence in Poltava V. G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University (PNPU named after V.G. Korolenko). The aim of the study is to expound the system of improving pedagogical skills of teachers-researchers and teachers in PNPU named after V.G. Korolenko. The study brings to scrutiny the institutional documents that cover teachers’ professional development and institutional practices of enhancing teaching excellence. The methods used in the study are systematic analysis and generalization, as well as the historical method. Results. The study has explicated that the development of the university system of enhancing teaching excellence is grounded in the tradition of teachers training that reaches into the beginning of the 20th century and has evolved in response to societal, cultural, and educational changes. It has revealed four key forms of improving teaching skills in the university: advanced training courses, internship, certificate educational programmes, research workshops and seminars. The study has characterised the target audience of each of these forms. For the advanced training courses, their legislative framework is characterized, in particular it is explicated that they are connected with the accredited master’s degree educational programmes. The universities approach to educational programmes is scrutinised and institutional principles of developing an educational programme and stages of this work are explicated. Further on, the mechanism of organizing advanced training courses for teachers is explained, the results of the implementation of such courses are reflected upon and the mechanisms of ensuring quality of such courses are revealed. Moreover, the principles and characteristics of the teachers’ internship have been clarified. Besides, the types of certificate educational programmes, the principle of organization of training under these programmes and the certification requirements are disclosed. Finally, principles of the development of research workshops, seminars, trainings, and consultations are defined. The study comes to the conclusions that the achievements of PNPU named after V.G. Korolenko in the field of improving teachers’ professional skills are twofold. On the one hand, the university has modernized the traditional forms of teaching excellence development and on the other hand, it has introduced new forms of professional pedagogical development which proved to be appreciated by the stakeholders.