COVID-19 challenging teacher competencies

Authors

• Anu Warinowski Turun yliopisto
• Riitta-Leena Metsäpelto Jyväskylän yliopisto
• Mirva Heikkilä Turun yliopisto
• Mirjamaija Mikkilä-Erdmann Turun yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33350/ka.107351

Keywords:

teaching, teacher competencies, future skills, covid-19, teacher education

Abstract

In this essay, we will discuss Finnish teachers’ competencies in relation to the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has set for teaching. Teachers’ work is professional and requires diverse expertise and competencies. The research-based Multidimensional Adapted Process Model of teaching (the MAP model) was built by seven collaborating universities to depict the key teacher competencies needed in the teaching profession. In the MAP model, teachers’ professional development is seen as a continuum from the teacher training selection phase via teacher education to working life. In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic changed teachers’ work radically. The transition to remote teaching and the supporting of learners in the crisis have set novel challenges to teacher competencies. During COVID-19, three viewpoints of the MAP model have especially been highlighted: general cognitive thinking skills and agency, wellbeing competencies, and competencies linked to diversity, e.g., equity and social justice. A research-based, collective view on teacher competencies gathered in the MAP model gives an excellent basis to understand teachers’ work in changing situations and to support teacher competencies in the future as well.