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DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHERS" PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES THROUGH SUPERVISION seniority were more competent in managing their emotions than teachers with longer one. Ihat statement could seem contradictory at first. However, if taking into consideration the flexibility, the accepting of new knowledge and the adjustability of teachers,?? it becomes clear that it is quite logical. Senior teachers tend to have more difficulties with accepting diversity, are more rigid in their ways of thinking and expressing emotions, which means they spend less time on finding ways to regulate their emotions, as opposed to their younger colleagues. One of the presumptions in this study was that supervision participants apply active and direct methods for coping with stressful situations more often than non-participants. However, the results showed that was not true. The way teachers respond to stress is subject to multiple factors, with some of the most frequent methods being cognitive evaluation of the event, personal competence, school climate, and school management method.*? The purpose of the qualitative part of the study was to determine which tasks teachers found the most important, or, in other words, what were the elements of good teaching and how teachers monitored and analyzed their instruction. The creation of encouraging environment, the ways of instruction implementation and instruction analysis were listed by teachers as some of the elements of good teaching. Through further education in the supervision process, teachers gained better insight into their responsibilities and learned new problem-solving strategies. However, the most important benefit was the realization that their way of thinking had a powerful effect on their emotions. That insight helped them to change the way they handled and responded in professional situations. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion it can be stated that education through supervision does influence the professional growth of teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine in what way it affects the teachers’ understanding of their basic tasks and responsibilities, the higher level of reflection and emotional competence, and the use of active coping strategies. Some steps into the direction of higher professionalism were detected, and could at some levels even be considered statistically significant. In supervisees, progress can be 22 A. Hargreaves, Mixed emotions: teachers’ perceptions of their interactions with students, Teaching and Teacher Education 16 (2000) 811-826. 3 Slivar, Dejavniki, strategija. e 173"
