Introduction. Over the last two years, in the official documents of the Government of the Russian Federation there has been the requirement to organize the professional training of students in accordance with the professional standards. The verification of the compliance with the standards should be provided through the procedures of objective assessment of qualification of college and university graduates. Thus, in the current conditions arose the need to searching for new assessment tools or ways to improve the previous ones. The authors believe that the new and original ideas can be derived from the fields of real sectors of productive-economic and social activity where the aspects of determination of quality of the final product are worked out far better, and interpretations of the results of activity are unambiguous and consistent Aim. Taking into account the aspects of education management and established practices of assessment procedures, the aim of the present publication is to discuss general methodological approaches to organization of scientific-methodical maintenance of the expertise on the results of professionals’ training in educational institutions. Methodology and research methods. The research is based on the qualimetric and system-based approaches, methods of comparative analysis of the content of the local and foreign normative documents as well as a wide range of scientific publications that describe the theory and practice of application of assessment in educational technical, economic and management systems. Results and scientific novelty. According to the introduced professional standards, methodological problems of measurement of students’ knowledge and adequacy of their assessment are designated. Various approaches to assessment of education quality and its results are described; assessment procedure and its main tools are presented: criteria, parameters, indicators and norms as a reference point in the choice of standards for assessment. It is stated that the traditional methods and means of assessment accepted today in education are severely outdated and continue to lag far behind progressive tendencies of quality measurement. In particular, widespread test measurements of educational achievements of graduates of the higher (and secondary) school are not holistic therefore cannot be considered as valid, especially concerning the level of professional qualification. On the basis of synthesis of the approaches to assessment in various spheres, the possibility of their application in the organizations of professional education is approved. The considered technique and technology of development of evaluative judgments are based on the results of the formalized expert procedures; thus enabling to draw various conclusions about activity of the separate organizations and education systems in general, to reveal the level of bringing them into line with norms and standards of the received results and deviations from the rated values, as well as to perform the required training correction procedures. The authors stress the need for formation of a team of the qualified experts capable to provide development and implementation of effective technologies for the organization of assessment activities. Practical significance. The problem research area on the search for new approaches to internal procedures for assessment of the graduates’ competencies is determined. The objectivity of evaluation and reliability of the results of such procedures have to be comparable to similar performance characteristics of the Centers for Independent Assessment of Professional Qualifications. It will enable to significantly reduce transactional costs of all agents of educational services, and will create conditions for transition from the existing standard-qualification reference books to the system of professional standards.

Introduction. Nowadays, there is a growing recognition of the role of media in life and educational practice of the person, determined by the development of media education and media educational activities. This requires that modern teachers must possess a media culture, to work effectively in a new media environment, to form media competence and media literacy among students. The aims of the present publication are the following: to consider the phenomenon “media culture” as an important part of the modern teacher’s professional portrait complied according to the professional standards for teachers; to form the basis for assessment toolkit for monitoring the teacher’s culture component. Methodology and research methods. Methodological framework of the research is based on the concepts of systematic, culturological, environmental and personal-activity approaches. Basic research methods involve: a theoretical analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature, generalization of practical experience in media education; diagnostic methods (questionnaire, survey, statistical data collection and processing), pedagogical experiment. Results and scientific novelty. In the authors’ view, media culture is understood as a determinant of a qualification portrait of the teacher at the present stage of education development. The authors state the positive role of this type of the teacher’s culture in formation of his/her professional qualities, such as critical rationality, independence of thinking, ability to cope with imposing by media of the certain points of view caused by external interests. It is shown that the high level of media culture allows the teacher: to be guided in the media environment as specifically organized sign-oriented visual and emotional environment; to design the professional activity in the field of media education, creating new information and knowledge by means of available tools and formats of the media; to choose effective strategies of individual training of school students in the media environment. Pedagogical conditions of formation of media culture of the teacher and the need for their diagnostics are denoted. The authors have scientifically reasoned the criteria and indicators for assessment of levels of the teacher’ media culture which had been successfully approved during the experiment on the advanced training courses for teachers of the Leningrad region. Practical significance. The proposed criteria and indicators have considerable practical scope of application in assessment of professional characteristics of the teacher in the context of the requirements of the professional standard for teachers.

Introduction. One of the problems of the higher school is mismatch of activities of the Theoretical and Degree Granting (main) Departments to form the students’ competencies. The use of fundamental knowledge in contents of professional preparation components quite often has formal character. The violation of integrity and continuity of training in higher education institution turns out to be the consequence of it. In medical educational institutions the situation is complicated by the fact that each of numerous clinical departments has its own specifics defining inquiries to the content of the particular theoretical discipline. The aim of the article is justify the need for designing elective courses at theoretical departments in medical universities, which enable future physicians to acquire both the fundamental knowledge and required professional competencies. Methodology and research methods. The framework of the article is based on activity, practice-oriented and competency-based approaches to education. When selecting educational material for elective courses, the foundations of contextual (motivational) approach to education, the method of expert evaluations, the dialectic principles of systemacity and variability of the educational material content, unity of integration and differentiation of fundamental knowledge were used. Results and scientific novelty. The author describes the experience of designing elective courses for students of various specialties and training programs at the Department of Histology, Cytology and Embryology of the Donetsk National Medical University named after M. Gorky. Since there are currently no general programs for Histology elective courses within the competency-based concept of education, their designing is a topical issue of Didactics. The principles of the content selection for such courses are formulated in accordance with their main purpose – cross-disciplinary integration of fundamental and applied knowledge. Practical significance. The publication findings could be useful for managerial personnel and lecturers of medical universities when designing integrated courses the content of which is interdisciplinary.

Introduction. In Federal State Standards of the Higher Education (FSS HE) of the natural-science and technical specialties and also in a number of the corresponding professional standards, the competence in the field of analytical chemistry is specified as one of the main qualification characteristics of an expert/university graduate. It is caused by interdisciplinarity of analytical chemistry and a wide range of application of analysis methods which are used today not only directly on chemical production, but also in power engineering, construction engineering, metallurgy, materials science, standardization, certification, and many other spheres. At the current time, however, there is a big gap between achievements of chemical science and content of high school discipline that reduces quality of staff training demanded in labour market. This discrepancy is caused both by preservation of traditional methodology of teaching chemistry and the reasons of the methodical plan. The aim of the publication is to search for more effective and productive ways of mastering the educational material that is relevant for acquiring the qualifications required from the university graduate. Methodology and research methods. Methodological framework of the article involves the concepts of chemical and natural-science education at the higher school; the principles of the system-based, cognitive, practice-focused and competence-based training. Results and scientific novelty. On the basis of the review and generalization of scientific and methodological resources on the theory and practice of application of the analysis methods of substances from didactic positions, a number of these methods have been singled out and compared; their role and features in determination of a molecule structure and other characteristics of an individual substance and its solutions have been shown. Despite the fact that the work is carried out using known methods of analysis, such a generalization makes it possible to more clearly understand the principles of the choice of a method and the method importance according to the purposes and specifics of the studied object that is essential for formation of research skills during training, as well as for formation of scientific thinking and the required qualification acquisition by graduates of the natural-science and technical specialties. In order to update the acquired knowledge, the examples illustrating applied use of various analysis methods in modern research and production practice have been collected. Tables have been made for a faster perception of the material by methods of analysis for the purpose of an informed choice of the method. Reliance on the principle of tabular collection of material makes it easier to understand the individuality of the method; allows teachers to reduce their workload; and on the part of students, to shorten the time and simplify the procedure of choosing the method of chemical, physicochemical and/or physical analysis. Practical significance. The work is compiled in accordance with the State General Educational Standards of Higher Professional Education, and can be recommended to practising and beginning teachers of higher education institutions, as well as graduate students of chemical specialties. The materials presented in the article can assist in designing the curricula of chemical disciplines or modules of educational programs.

Introduction. In the modern system of higher professional education, high standards are imposed on the quality of educational activity provided the relevance of the problem of the teacher’s commitment to innovation, which is expected to be implemented in the conditions of a favourable socio-psychological climate. The aim of the publication is to present the research results on identification of the dependence level of the teachers’ commitment to innovations and sociopsychological climate of teaching staff in higher educational institutions. Methodology and research methods. Various empirical methods were used in the course of the research: testing, questioning, polling, observation, conversation. The following techniques were involved as psychodiagnostic tools: the method “Assessment of Psychological Climate of Teaching Staff” by A. N. Lutoshkin; the rapid assessment methodology on studying social and psychological climate by Yu. A. Shalyto and O. S. Mikhalyuk; J. Ceserani’s questionnaire “Workplace Innovation Quotient”; the questionnaire of personnel’s commitment to innovations developed by V. V. Panteleeva and T. P. Knysheva. Processing of the data obtained was conducted by means of mathematical statics methods: the One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test, the Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient, and the Method of Linear Regression. Results and scientific novelty. The content of the concept of “commitment to innovations of a university teacher” is disclosed; the concept of “socio-psychological climate” is concretized. The conducted research, with the sample consisted of 2036 teachers on the basis of 9 higher educational institutions of Russia, made it possible to identify the presence of a favourable socio-psychological climate in the teaching staff of all the universities. The correlation of the level of innovation factor with the indicators of a personality creative potential and psychological commitment to innovations of the research participants, at emotional, motivational, cognitive, personal (instrumental), organizational levels, has shown the linear dependence of this commitment on socio-psychological climate: the better the level is, the more the teachers commit themselves to innovations and encourage themselves to successful innovation implementation in the educational process. Practical significance. The research materials can be used by the managers and representatives of the teaching staff to implement the programs of innovative reorganization.

Introduction. The method of project-based learning has recently gained the great popularity. However, the adoption of project-based learning into the educational process and its theoretical comprehension have been affected to some extent by a phenomenon such as fashion, therefore, there has been misunderstanding on the part of this method potential among the research and teaching staff. The possible disappointment in its results, where there are reasons to doubt its effectiveness, can cause a backlash and retard its application. The reassessment of its results, in turn, can cause a backlash and retard its methodological and methodical tools application that has a really high potential. The aims of the study are the following: to define and analyse insufficiently highlighted problematic aspects of the project-based learning in scientific publications; to justify the need for a differentiated approach to its use. Methodology and research methods. The study methodology is based on the system-based and practice-oriented approaches; the methods of experiment, description, comparison, structural and comparative analyses of empirical data were applied. Results and scientific novelty. The author describes the long-term teaching experience based on the project method while training the students of the system of higher and secondary professional education mastering the technologies of a promotional video production. The virtues and shortcomings of this method, favorable conditions for its realization are considered; a number of the methodical recommendations that enable to increase its effectiveness are given; typical mistakes which are made when introducing similar training are noted. The use of the project method brings closer the process of the specialists’ training to real professional activity; removes a problem of restriction of school hours; gives opportunities of peer learning of students and acquisition of the program of courses by them at individual speed; significantly stimulates educational motivation of students and promotes growth of their professional competence through the well-advised organization of work on the project, its constant control and objective assessment by independent experts of a final design product. The use of the project-based learning method is not universally effective. It contributes more to the development of the abilities of more gifted students, but can negatively affect the progress of poorly motivated students. Projects can be realized within the framework of one studied discipline, if its content and structure create conditions for this. In other cases, it will require a substantial restructuring of the educational process, careful prediction of its final results, change of approaches to teaching all disciplines, and accordance of the educational curricula to design technologies. Practical significance. The publication materials can be used by the teachers, methodologists and administrative workers of the system of professional education interested in the efficient and rational organization of educational process and the choice of the most productive methods, means and forms of vocational training of future experts.

Introduction. The growth of requirements for the quality and effectiveness of educational activities, identified in a number of government documents, determines the need to normalize the professional activities of teaching staff. The aim of this article is to present the normative-competence model of the teacher of additional professional education developed by the Department of Pedagogy and Andragogy of the Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Education Development, and to substantiate the potential of this model as an effective mechanism of intracorporate support of continuous professional development of the institutes of advanced training of specialists teaching staff. Methodology and research methods. The general theoretical basis for the design of the normative-competence model of the teacher consists of the system-activity, competency-based, andragogical, comparative general scientific approaches. The methods of the qualification and dispersive analysis, expert estimations, participant observation, stratified sampling were used to determine the efficiency of the model and diagnostics of professional competences of teachers of additional professional education. Processing of the data obtained was performed by the methods of mathematical statistics – the analysis of reliability of mathematical expectation differences and hypotheses checking on the basis of fitting criterion. Results and scientific novelty. The presented model contains a set of key qualities that provide the pedagogical worker with the ability to be successful in achieving the strategic educational goals. The structure of the model includes the clusters of universal, general professional and professional competencies; maps and indicators of competencies divided into three levels – monodisciplinary, multidisciplinary, metadisciplinary. The advantage of the model is that it can serve as a framework for objective assessment of professionalism of teachers of additional professional education as well as a standard framework to upgrade teachers’ qualification and self-development. The hypothesis on the conditions of the model realization was tested in the course of the project experiment conducted by the authors. The conditions of three types presented: content-activity, organizational-managerial, and the ability to transform the conditions of the first and second types for professional development of the teachers. The inputs and outputs research results on teachers’ competencies by the end of the three-year intra-corporate training curriculum “Andragogical School of Eventual Education” have shown the efficiency of application of the developed model in the format of self-training organization. Practical significance. The normative-competence model is universal and fully consistent with the requirements of the teachers’ career development system. The model presented provides the groundwork for scientific and educational activity of the teacher of additional professional education and can be used by everyone who is engaged in educational activity in the conditions of continuous pedagogical education.

Introduction. The component structure of the content of modern foreign language education involves the inclusion of the emotionally-valuable component (EVC), the main purpose of which is the formation of students’ axiological attitude to educational material and the world around them; the acquisition of individual system of national and universal values. The process of implementing the EVC of the content of foreign language education involves the construction of its models at all levels of school foreign language education. The aim of this article is to present the invariant of the model which enables to make a selection of foreign texts of emotionally-valuable contents at the junior stage of foreign language education. Methodology and research methods. The methods of theoretical analysis (systemic-structural, organizational, functional, comparative, typological) were used in order to define basic theoretical and methodological concepts of the research. When projecting the model of the EVC of the content of foreign language education, adapted to the conditions of teaching foreign languages in elementary school, methods of designing and modelling were used. Scientific novelty and results. In the article the subcomponent structure of the EVC of the content of foreign language education is presented. It was proved that all the system subcomponents of the EVC are functional, and each of them has its own special role in elementary foreign language education. The concept of a foreign language text of emotionally-valuable contents is proposed. The choice of the form of such texts, and also the selection of an emotionally-valuable technique of work with, including conditions, means and methods, allowed us to design the invariant of the model of the EVC of the content of elementary foreign language education. Practical significance. The research materials can be useful in implementing scientifically-based selection of speech material within the discipline “Foreign Language” and the development of adequate techniques of working with texts of emotionally-valuable contents in primary school.