The Path to Improving University Teachers' Teaching Competence from the Perspective of “Teaching Oneself While Teaching Othersâ€

Against the backdrop of global higher education reform, high-quality development has emerged as the core priority of contemporary higher education. High-caliber teachers are fundamental to educational quality, and teachers’ instructional competence directly shapes university talent cultivation outcomes. Facilitating teachers’ sustainable instructional improvement and endogenous professional growth has thus become a vital concern in higher education research. Tao Xingzhi’s philosophy of “teaching oneself while teaching others†offers a unique theoretical lens for addressing prevalent problems in university teaching, including the overemphasis on research and formalized superficial reflection. Centered on the spiral logic of “teaching others, self-improvement, reflection, and optimization†, this study constructs an integrated analytical framework by incorporating reflective practice theory, self-determination theory, emotion regulation theory, self-efficacy theory, and the social-emotional learning framework. It explores the internal mechanisms and practical constraints of teachers’ active self-development in teaching and formulates targeted optimization strategies. This research contributes to helping university teachers overcome passive teaching and shallow reflection, transform from conventional instructors to reflective practitioners, and provides theoretical and practical support for the high-quality development of university teachers and higher education.