The concepts of ‘professional competence’ and ‘professional competency’ in the context of life-long continuing professional education

Statement of the problem. Currently, the competence-based approach is essential in the system of life-long education, mostly because it is based on the formation of students’ specific knowledge, skills and abilities that are necessary for the implementation of professional activities. The issues of scientific study of professional competency (expertise) and professional competence seem to be relevant for researchers in various fields of scientific knowledge. Besides, there is the lack of a unified scientific approach to the definition of the concepts of ‘professional competence’ and ‘professional competency’. Considering that, the article analyzes scientific research on the essential characteristics of these concepts in the context of continuing professional adult education. The purpose of the article is to summarize approaches to definitions of concepts, to analyze the essence of the terms ‘professional competency’ and ‘professional competence’, taking into account the specifics of life-long professional education. Methodology (materials and methods). The methodological approaches of the research are competence-based and acmeological approaches, which involve focusing research on the formation of professional competencies of specialists in order to improve their professional skills. The author uses theoretical research methods, such as an overview, generalization and methodological analysis of the existing definitions of the concepts ‘professional competence’ and ‘professional competency’ presented in research papers by foreign and Russian researchers, the systematization of key approaches to the definition of these concepts and interpretation of these terms in relation to continuing professional education. Research results. Due to the lack of a unified approach to the definition of the concepts of ‘professional competence’ and ‘professional competency’ in scientific research, the main approaches to the interpretation of these concepts (taking into account their interrelationship) have been developed that are applicable in the context of continuing professional education, as well as the author’s definitions of the concepts of ‘professional competence’ and ‘professional competency’.