Abstract:

The role of academics is repeatedly becoming the subject of scientific discourses. Overall, expectations towards teachers are very complex, with regard to the balanced connection between the science and the management of their teaching activities. It means that the competent teacher should be primarily an expert, an educator, a helper, a counsellor, an evaluator, a referee, an organizer, a manager, a planner, and other roles all in just one person. Such roles are inseparable, they cannot be performed in isolation. However, each of them requires specific competences and personal prerequisites from the teacher. Great teachers are therefore also good managers, and they should manage both themselves and their time, as well as the groups of their students. In this context, the paper focuses on the accountability of an educational institution through self-reflection of managerial skills of faculty members of a university in the Czech Republic. Namely, the aim is to reveal the subjective views of academic staff on their managerial competences determining good teaching practices, such as planning, organizing, leading, or controlling skills. The target group consisted of 34 selected university teachers, included with their courses in the annual evaluation of the educational processes at the faculties of the university concerned. An empirical survey was conducted in the environment of the university online information system using the method of a questionnaire, with the items examined using Likert scales. Data collection was carried out in the academic year 2020/2021. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics methods. A comparison of the observed skills reveals differences in perceptions of their application by the teachers. While the university teachers recognise their planning skills the most confidently, regarding their leading and controlling skills, here they perceive certain reserves and space for their development – specifically, above all, in the ability to motivate their students to learn and in the area of verifying students' feedback on the understanding and usefulness of the information presented. The degree of acquisition of the assessed skills forms the image of a teacher – a manager in education – and at the same time indicates and predicts their managerial effectiveness and abilities to organize, lead, motivate, and others. The findings are valuable not only for the educators themselves, i.e. for their reflection on their concept of teaching and self-efficacy. They are also essential for the feedback mechanisms of the university resulting in strategic planning for the purpose of increasing the quality of the educational process and developing the necessary competences of employees in the form of, for example, the provision of targeted further education courses, methodical support of the employer or for supportive topics for mutual consultation during evaluation interviews at the workplace.

Keywords:

Managerial competences, evaluation, university, instructional management, quality of education.