The System of Qualification Enhancement for Geography Teachers at Kazan Federal University: A Way to Professional Leadership

The relevance of the research is associated with the Russian education being included into the world educational space, the creative activity of teachers, and their leadership skills gaining importance. Due to this, in the paper, qualification enhancement of geography teachers is viewed in conditions of transformation of the contemporary education. The leading approach to studying the problem is the systemic and didactic approach that allows the integrated consideration of the process of transformation of the system of qualification enhancement for geography teachers taking place at Kazan Federal University. In the paper, the materials on testing out the online- and classroom-based organization forms of the geography teachers’ qualification enhancement process are presented. The components of transformation of the teachers’ qualification enhancement are described – the education itself, the pedagogical education, a teacher as a subject of professional activity, and a teacher in the role of a course training participant. The formal logical associations of the key notions “creativity – task (solving a problem) – competencies” have been found out, and the systemic layout of qualification enhancement process has been given ground. The conceptual research of transformation of qualification enhancement for geography teachers relied on accepting the universal values of holism, development of creative and leadership potential, and the competency-based approach. Hence the materials of the paper are of practical value for a wide range of teachers specializing on andragogy.