EVALUATION OF HIGHER SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PEDAGOGICAL ACTIVITY AS AN ACTUAL SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM IN UKRAINE (SECOND HALF OF THE XX – BEGINNING OF THE XXI CENTURY)

The essence and content of the notion «evaluation of the teachers’ pedagogical activity», its goals and tasks are viewed in the given article. Thus, evaluation of the teachers’ activity is important to determine weakness in the organization of an educational process; to stimulate higher school teachers’ activity; to provide the proper level of professional pedagogical workers’ competence; to set accordance between the results of professional activity and work payment; to stimulate pedagogical workers’ level of professional competence; to discipline and motivate pedagogical workers; to define their rating. The main stages of the development of the investigated problem in theory are characterized. It is found that each stage is marked by its special purposeful governmental measures and scientific searches of theoretical questions of evaluation of the higher school teachers’ pedagogical activity. In such a way during the analyzed period the requirements to the teachers have been determined; the criteria, kinds, principles and methods of evaluation of quality of higher school faculty advisors pedagogical activity have been defined. During the study it has been concluded that in practice of many higher educational establishments of Ukraine different methods of evaluation of higher school teachers’ pedagogical activity have been widely used. Among them: the method of attestation, the method of teacher evaluation by the students, colleges, experts and individual methods. It is noted that they have their specification and value in each period. Beginning of the XXI-st century is marked by the search of quantitative criteria of evaluation of higher school teachers’ pedagogical activity and introduction into practice of a higher school of individual methods and rating system of evaluation of the teachers’ pedagogical activity. It is proved that rating as an evaluation system has substantial advantages: clarity of criteria; simplicity of realization; absence of possibility to set too high or low evaluation in accordance to those whose activity is evaluated. In light of this, as some scientists say for today it does rating the most perspective method and allows applying it for the evaluation of teaching staff’ pedagogical activity of any higher educational establishment.