Teachers' Key Competences for Ensuring Inquiry-based Education

Abstract

Inquiry-based education has long been used to teach science-based and technical subjects. However, problems often arise during the process of implementing this educational concept into school practice. One cause of this problem may be a lack of development of substantial competences: educational theory does not yet provide a generally valid competence framework, except in a few limited studies. This problem causes difficulties during teachers’ initial and life-long education and is the primary motivation for our research. Based on our results, we created a competence model for identifying the key competences for realizing inquiry-based education may be concluded. In the first phase, published research conclusions connected to the competences of teachers of science-based and technical subjects—accentuating inquiry-based education—were analysed. Accordingly, we conducted research that helped both to establish the importance of individual competences and (subsequently) to create the competence model. The Q-methodology was used for the purpose of obtaining data, and statistical methods (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha, split half, chi squared and Spearman’s correlation coefficient) were used for the purpose of evaluating that data. The research took place in the Olomouc region of the Czech Republic, with 54 expert teachers (from basic schools) participating.