Tímarit um menntarannsóknir - 01.01.2014, Blaðsíða 80

Sigríður Halldórsdóttir
Abstract
Theory of the good professor:
What personal attributes and competencies
do good professors have?
A genuine culture of quality is necessary
in all of higher education (HE) since one
of the primary aims of universities is that
students receive education of excellent
quality. It is difficult to define quality be-
cause it is a multidimensional and com-
plex concept. Quality in universities has
sometimes been divided into quality as
transformation, a process of changing in-
dividual students, and quality as enhance-
ment, a process of changing universities as
institutions for the better. Most profession-
als agree that universities exist to trans-
form students e.g. by facilitating students'
self-development of higher-order think-
ing skills and transferable competencies.
Research results indicate that there is a
difference in how effective professors (as-
sistant professors, associate professors and
full professors) are in facilitating the trans-
formation of students. It is important to
identify professors who are more effective
than others and to identify the contribut-
ing factors. Professors face the complex
challenge of bringing together many dif-
ferent factors in their work. In this paper
the implied assumption in the discourse
on quality in HE regarding the apparent
unimportance of good professors will be
challenged. The aim is to present a theory
of good professors as an essential factor
in quality as transformation. The question
being answered is: What persotial attributes
and competencies do good professors in HE
need to have in order to be able to partake in
a process of empowering and transforming
students within the framework of quality as
transformation? The method used in the
theory development was theory synthesis.
According to the theory, good professors
are personally and professionally devel-
oped, succeed in making students feel
cared for as leamers, communicate with
them in an empowering manner, and have
positive partnerships with them aimed at
their learning and transformation. Accord-
ing to the theory, good professors have
seven core competencies: interpersonal
competence, teaching competence, caring
competence, existential competence, ethi-
cal competence, competence in empower-
ing students and competence in reflection
and self-development as persons and as
professors. Good professors are capable of
empowering communication and partner-
ship with students. For many students this
partnership is the main difference between
perceived empowerment and disempow-
erment in encounters with professors.
The professors' implied message is: "Let's
work together on your learning and trans-
formation". It is postulated in the theory
that when professors are transformative,
students benefit from their competence
by being transformed and empowered as
learners. It increases their self-develop-
ment of higher-order thinking skills and
transferable competencies as well as im-