Abstract:

Contemporary interest on teaching moves beyond the teacher’s observable behaviors. More exactly, those who are looking for teaching performance have to explore the way teacher thinks (knowledge, beliefs and personal theories ) their personality traits and emotional control. The present study was focused on the identification and assessment of those factors that influence university didactic expertise. Our research had two specific goals: 1. The identification of cognitive, behavior, emotional and personality factors that influence the university didactic activity. 2. The evaluation of the impact of cognitive factors (rationality and reflexivity), behavioral and emotional factors on didactic performance. We found significant differences between expert and veteran teachers. More exactly, our results revealed that the didactic expertise is clearly dependent upon the frequency of efficient teaching strategies (F= 6.32, p<.01) teachers’ emotional control abilities (F= 4,5, p<.05), metacognitive abilities and reflexive practices (F = 5, 67, p< .01), taking together with their personality profile and knowledge about general pedagogy (F = 6,12, p<.01). We consider that our outcomes are a very usefull for teaching staff professional development departments, helping them to design professional programs.

Keywords:

Teaching expertise in higher education, emotional control and reflexivity in teaching, training programs for faculty professional development.