The exploration of the competencies of faculty members in quality teaching

Background & Objective: The most technical and basic function of higher education is teaching and education, and providing high-quality teaching requires a certain level of competencies observed in the main custodian of teaching in universities- i.e. the faculty members. This study aimed to evaluate the faculty members’ competencies in high-quality teaching. Materials and Methods: This was a qualitative research performed on 12 academic education experts selected by purposeful, theoretical sampling method. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with the participants, and data analysis was performed applying the thematic analysis technique. The validity of the research was confirmed based on the opinions of interviewees and the results of data source multidimensional method. In addition, reliability of the coding process was approved applying the retest method and intra-subject agreement (the agreement between two coders). The implementation of interviews’ content and their primary analysis was associated with the identification of initial codes or concepts and classification of similar codes in specific categories to achieve the main categories. Ultimately, a name was chosen for each category based on the general concept of the codes. Results: In this study, the competencies required for faculty members were determined to provide high-quality teaching. According to academic education experts, the competencies of professional, specialized, social-communicative, ethical, interestedness in teaching, and personality traits are required to achieve high-quality teaching. Conclusion: According to the results of the study, choosing the right person to take on the serious task of teaching requires care and consideration of professional, specialized, social-communicative, ethical, and interestedness in teaching.