Adult Education Teacher Competencies

Adult Education Teacher Competencies

The Adult Education Teacher Competencies identify the core knowledge and skills expected of any adult education teacher. The Competencies support effective teaching practices and enhanced learner outcomes for all adult education learners. The competencies also assist instructional leaders, professional developers, and teacher preparation faculty in planning professional learning for adult education teachers.

The Adult Education Teacher Competencies were developed after an extensive review of the literature (see the Teacher Effectiveness Annotated Bibliography)  on teacher Competencies and teacher effectiveness, a review by national subject matter experts, an extensive field-test in adult education programs, and validation by a wide range of adult education stakeholders from across the country. Almost 2,000 stakeholders engaged in reviewing the competencies at workshops and focus groups at a number of educational meetings and conferences, through online discussions, and other outreach efforts.

The Adult Education Teacher Competencies are organized in four broad domains with 17 associated individual and observable competencies. Each competency has a set of indicators that articulate what the performance of this competency looks like in an adult education context. Each performance indicator is accompanied by sample illustrations that give examples of the practice in different adult education settings.

Adult Education Teacher Competencies Self-Assessment

Use the optional Adult Education Teacher Competencies Self-Assessment to determine areas for professional development. The Self-Assessment has 17 questions, one per competency, with performance indicators and sample illustrations providing additional details about each competency.  Average completion time is 45 minutes. The Self-Assessment offers adult education teachers a structured approach to determining the knowledge and skills they still need to develop for professional growth and learning. It enables teachers to assess their own ability within each competency and the relevance of each competency to their teaching assignment and program priorities. It is neither designed nor intended as an employee rating tool. The Self-Assessment must be completed in one sitting. No results are stored online. Print a copy if you want to refer to it in the future.

Interactive Adult Education Teacher Competencies

Explore the Interactive Adult Education Teacher Competencies model of the Domains, Competencies, Performance Indicators, and Sample Illustrations. To begin, select one of the four domains (house). Select the number of one of the competencies (arrow) in that domain. To learn more about the competency, select the guagesymbol for one of the performance indicators. View a sample illustration of each indicator by selecting the pensymbol below it.

Online course: Introduction to Teacher Effectiveness and Induction

The online course: Introduction to Teacher Effectiveness and Induction guides you through what the research tells us about teacher effectiveness.

It provides an overview of the Adult Education Teacher Competencies, an introduction to teacher induction, and a summary of the Adult Education Teacher Induction Toolkit and its resources.