Developing as an academic teacher involves more than just refining your teaching skills, and includes several other aspects of academic teaching that contribute to overall pedagogical competence.

A note on the word competence
There are different definitions of competence. In some contexts, the word refers to being qualified, skilled, adept, perhaps even gifted. In others, it refers to being adequate, sufficient but not more. The original Swedish term for pedagogical competence is pedagogisk skicklighet. Skicklighet is a word that is decidedly and unambiguously aligned with the first, more positive definition, and not the second one. Unfortunately, the English language lacks a direct translation for this particular word, and competence is the best compromise. Whenever we use the word competence in this learning resource, we use it to mean properly qualified, not just adequate.

Pedagogical competence slides for download.pdf

The Lund model of pedagogical competence is a cycle that consists of four stages: teaching practice, observation, theory, and planning. Demonstrating pedagogical competence means moving through the complete cycle. This means that pedagogical competence is not a particular level of achievement, but rather an ongoing process. An inherent feature of this process is that a pedagogically competent teacher will develop over time. The cycle looks like this:

A diagram of pedagogical competence as a cycle

A teacher demonstrates teaching proficiency through her teaching skills, but overall pedagogical competence is shown through documented achievement throughout the whole cycle, usually in multiple loops. At Lund University, we use this model of pedagogical competence to inform the way we talk about, develop, and evaluate academic teaching.

When we assess the pedagogical competence of an academic teacher, we look at the relationship between the teacher's theoretical knowledge about teaching and learning, as demonstrated by the complexity of her pedagogical reasoning, and her pedagogical practice in terms of her ability to reflect in a scholarly way about teaching and learning with the help of theoretical knowledge. An academic teacher shows greater pedagogical competence if she is able to demonstrate a holistic understanding of teaching and learning coupled with a reflective and shared approach to her overall pedagogical practice. The diagram below shows increasing pedagogical competence as it relates to the relationship between theory and actual pedagogical practice.

A two-dimensional model for assessing pedagogical competence

Further reading:

Olsson, T., Mårtensson, K., and Roxå, T. (2010). Pedagogical competence: A development perspective from Lund University. In Ryegård, Å., Apelgren, K., and Olsson, T., (Eds.), A Swedish perspective on pedagogical competence. Uppsala University, Division for Development of Teaching and Learning.
Download full report here: A Swedish Perspective on Pedagogical Competence.pdf

Olsson, T., and Roxå, T. (2013). Assessing and rewarding excellent academic teachers for the benefit of an organization. European Journal of Higher Education, 3(1), 40–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2013.778041