Abstract:

The Professional Development of Teachers (TPD) is a broad area of research in the social sciences (e.g., pedagogy, psychology) and humanities (e.g., linguistics, philosophy, literary studies). The multiplicity of disciplines that create both the field of scientific cognition in this area and build the foundations of teachers' practice is almost equal to the number of subject paths they represent. Adding to this the diverse levels of education, a map with a very wide range of contexts and demands is created.

To narrow down the topic and present only a specific excerpt from this map, the author of the paper directs her deliberations towards, firstly, the academic community, and secondly, towards the competences and attitudes important specifically in the teaching of higher education. The presentation will aim at a comparative analysis of the empirically diagnosed needs and the evaluation outcomes, both referring to professional development training sessions in two groups of academic teachers: tutors, i.e., educators working with students in a personalized system, and educators of academic staff, i.e. trainers who implement training programs as part of didactics at a university institution. A small scale, qualitative empirical study was conducted at the University of Gdańsk in 2023 and 2024 with the use of questionnaires and interviews. Their aim was to diagnose the needs of both groups before the trainings dedicated to them, and then after the completion of the respective TPD courses, ask for their evaluation. Results shall be used to make a comparative analysis in the context of the following aspects of professional development in these two groups of academic entities: first, whether their needs were met in the courses offered by an institution, and secondly: whether both groups differed in any way as for their needs' profiles. One of the courses is still being run, which means the second evaluation shall be done in May 2024.

The conclusions of the study should answer, in the author's intention, a research question whether the forms of teacher professional development, as developed at our university and metaphorized as confluence, converge into one coherent current of the river improving the quality of academic education, or whether they are separate activities tailored for the specific groups of experts, requiring each time separate qualifications of mentors and educators.

Keywords:

Teacher Professional Development, Higher Education, teaching excellence, teacher education.