Abstract:

Recently, there have been significant changes in relation to the academic staff of higher education institutions. This issue has become relevant by introducing new academic career frameworks and requiring the scientific excellence in teaching, learning and research. Where an important role is assigned to the evaluation and assessment process of academic staff. In order to achieve qualitative improvements in the performance of academic staff the key competences should be considered, including pedagogical one, defining criteria and indicators for the assessment. So, within the scope of ERASMUS+ project Transformative Digital Pedagogies for Higher Education the focus group discussions were conducted among the partners in order to figure out the preliminary tenets and practical application terms of developed assessment content for academic staff. The aim of the article is to determine the updated list of criteria and indicators for the assessment of academic staff in terms of teaching and learning, offering examples of the descriptors and summarizing the guidelines for effective assessment process.

Methodology:
Focus groups discussion design was used in the present study as a qualitative approach to gain in-depth understanding of defined issues, therefore it was conducted to clarify the content for the assessment of qualitative performance of academic staff in terms of teaching and learning, its effective implementation among the countries participating in the project: Latvia, Cyprus, Ireland, France and Spain. For the efficiency of the process, the participants were introduced to the main concepts and questions for discussion, covering possible criteria and indicators in accordance with the study objectives, and emphasizing non-teacher trained academic staff (without pedagogical background). Moreover, focus group discussion technique was used following the core steps: research design, data collection, analysis, results and reporting. The target audience was specified in accordance to the requirements within the project and was formed of non-teacher trained academic staff from the technical universities of the participating countries and was conducted in online format with random sample.

Findings and conclusion:
Based on the preliminary results of the research the following aspects were specified for the assessment tool of academic staff in terms of teaching and learning: relevance, clear understanding of used terminology, wording in accordance to Bloom’s taxonomy, three-level model for mastery level evaluation, corresponding content, number of criteria and indicators, effective implementation process, cyclicity nature, comparative data analyses and continuous self/professional development.
While for its effective implementation the following aspects should be considered: guidelines and training, explanations of key terminology, timing aspect, content testing, clear interpretation of results, reflection by offering the corresponding self/professional development courses and support, the linkage with the existing quality assurance procedures.

Acknowledgment:
This article is created within the project “Strengthening the Academic Staff of Higher Education Institutions in the areas of strategic specialization in RTA, VeA and ViA” (8.2.2.0/20/I/005) and RTU ERASMUS+ project Transformative Digital Pedagogies for Higher Education (Nr. 2022-1-LV01-KA220-HED-000085277).

Keywords:

Pedagogical competence, academic staff, teaching, learning, research, assessment, focus group discussion.