Qualitative study of social and health care educators’ perceptions of their competence in education

Abstract Competent educators are needed to ensure that social and healthcare professionals are effective and highly competent. However, there is too little evidence‐based knowledge of current and required enhancements of educators' competences in this field. The aim of this study was to describe social and healthcare educators’ perceptions of their competence in education. The study had a qualitative design, based on interviews with educators and rooted in critical realism. Forty‐eight participants were recruited from seven universities of applied sciences and two vocational colleges in Finland, with the assistance of contact persons nominated by the institutions. The inclusion criterion for participation was employment by an educational institution as a part‐time or full‐time, social and/or healthcare educator. Data were collected in the period February–April 2018. The participants were interviewed in 16 focus groups with two to five participants per group. The acquired data were subjected to inductive content analysis, which yielded 506 open codes, 48 sub‐categories, nine categories and  one main category. The educators’ competence  was definedas a multidimensional construct, including categories of educators’ competencesin practicing as an educator, subject, ethics, pedagogy, management and organisation, innovation and development,collaboration, handling Cultural andlinguistic diversity, and continuous professionaldevelopment. Educators recognized the need for developing competence in innovationto meet rapid changes in a competitiveand increasingly global sociopolitical environment. Enhancement of adaptability to rapid changes was recognized as a necessity. The findings have social valuein identifying requirements toimprove social and healthcare educators' competenceby helping educational leadership to improve educationalstandards, construct a continuous education framework and create national and/or international curricula for teacher educationdegree programs to enhance the quality  of education. We also suggest that educationalleadership needs to establish, maintain    andstrengthen collaborative strategies to provide effective,adaptable support systems, involving educators and students, in their working practices.