Self-Assessment of Teacher Competencies for Implementing Project Based Teaching: Results of an Empirical Study

Abstract

Since the project model of teaching was introduced as a compulsory way of working in elementary schools in Serbia, the question of teachers' competence for its implementation has been raised. The aim of this research was to examine the attitudes of primary school teachers towards the competencies for applying the project model of teaching, to confirm the psychometric characteristics of a constructed competence assessment tool, and to determine the basic factors and dimensions of competence. In addition to the descriptive method, elementary procedures of nonparametric and inferential statistics were used. The sample consisted of 619 elementary school teachers from the territory of eight municipalities in Serbia (M = 67,40, SD = 10,68). For the needs of the research, Self-assessment of teacher competency for project model of teaching scale (STC-PMT), a five-step Likert type scale of 18 positively formulated items in the preliminary phase of the study and 9 items of the final form of the scale were constructed. Satisfactory internal consistency indices (α = 0.907) were obtained. In the preliminary examination of the psychometric characteristics of the scale, explanatory factor analysis, parallel analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis were used. A unique factor of competence was obtained which explains 57.53% of the total competency variance. On the basis of the obtained results it can be concluded that in order to increase teachers' competence for the implementation of the project model of teaching, theoretical education is necessary, but, above all, practical experience is crucial.

Project-Based Learning in Early Childhood Education in Serbia: First Experiences of Preschool Teachers

“…Project-based learning is a form of learning based on constructivist approach according to which children construct new knowledge by upgrading the existing knowledge and experience through social interactions. In relation to this, four fundamental pillars essential for project-based learning can be identified from the corpus of constructivist elements and guidelines: a) basically, construction of knowledge begins with the leading investigative question; b) children's investigation is based on decisions and choices, with the support of their teacher (preschool teacher); v) collaborative work and communication are dominant; g) projects should be authentic -aimed at real life problem solving (Ristanović, Stojanović and Živković, 2018;Lev, Klark and Starki, 2022;Shah and Kumar, 2019).…”