Teacher competencies between philosophy and education at the primary school level

Abstract

The present theoretical work deals with the current issue of the competence concept of education in primary school, emphasizing the professional competences of teachers and their standardization through the Competence Framework for Graduate Teachers. Competences are defined functionally as a complex of knowledge, skills, attitudes and experiences with an emphasis on the balance of individual components. Concerns about reducing education to skills alone and the need to link humanistic and neoliberal discourses are discussed. The thesis extends insights into teacher competencies to include ontological, epistemological and axio­logical perspectives, emphasizing (self-)reflection, self-understanding and self-transcendence. The paper contextually analyses teachers' professional competencies and seeks to move beyond instrumental, economic understandings of competences. For this reason, the role of character as an ethical foundation for the meaningful use of competences in the 21st century is emphasized. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the debate on competence education.