Abstract:

The requirements of the present time naturally affect the practice of adult education, not excluding the practice of the university education. There are various competency models and professional standards emerging, designed to provide adult teachers with high-quality instruction that leads to student achievement and their comprehensive development. Each of these models emphasizes the need to motivate students. A good university teacher should also be a good motivator.

According to the American professor of psychology R. Wlodkowski (2008), the motivation of adults learners is based on teachers' five key characteristics:
1. expertise,
2. empathy,
3. enthusiasm,
4. clarity, and
5. cultural responsiveness.

In her article, the author focuses one of these characteristics, namely expertise. It is based on data from an extensive survey within the initiative Learning Makes Sense by a non-profit organization MESA10, in which she participated. The initiative carried out an extensive qualitative and quantitative survey in 2017–2019, with more than 650 interviewed respondents and 15,000 survey respondents from among various educators and employers (MESA10, 2018).

The paper presents the findings of a questionnaire completed by 3835 university students from Slovakia. It answers the questions, whether:
1) students perceive their teachers as experts,
2) they feel they have direct practical experience, and
3) whether they adapt their teaching methods to their educational needs.

The findings have proven that master's students, compared to future bachelors, think that a smaller portion of their teachers is actually in touch with real practice. This group also showed a greater degree of criticism, or lower level of satisfaction with how their teachers selected the methods that would actually follow their educational needs. The comparison of feedback within the groups of respondents according to their field of study showed a different experience of student teachers compared to the students of technical, natural, human and social sciences programs. In the monitored sample, the student teachers reported a more significant experience with teachers - experts. They attributed the statement: They adapt their teaching methods to the educational needs of their students to the most part of their teachers than the students from other disciplines. Based on the questionnaire findings, we can conclude that in terms of expertise, the biggest challenge for the university teachers in Slovakia is to improve their didactic skills and abilities to match teaching strategies with the needs of their students.

Keywords:

Adult education, university teacher, learning motivation, teacher´s expertise.