Development of the higher school teacher’s personality and professional competence by means of project activity

Introduction. Formation of personality and professional competence of future specialists is inseparably connected with the development of their role as an agent in profession. Its formation is provided by the conditions in which the student manifests himself as an agent of activity, and this is based on transformation of key, “flexible competencies”. Possession of flexible competencies by a teacher facilitates the creation of conditions for the formation of students’ role as an agent in profession. Маterials and Methods. The authors conducted comparative analysis of self-assessment of the formation of information and communication technology competencies and skills of project activity in teachers of a civilian and departmental university. Eighty-eight teachers were interviewed about the issues revealing the essence of the teacher’s information and communication technology competencies as well as the skill of organizing project activity. Results and Discussion. It is shown that project activity and usage of information and communication technologies in the educational process in general and in project activity in particular significantly change the pedagogical process and stimulate the learners’ agent position. The results of the study show that project activity proficiency and assessment of the level of using it are considerably higher among teachers of a classical university than of a departmental university, though the latter are more prepared for changes related to introduction of information and communication technologies in the educational process, in the scope of the whole university and are willing to make their contribution to this. Conclusions. The teacher’s readiness for project activity and his information and communication technology proficiency serve as the means to estimate the teacher’s personality and professional competence as they reflect the level of his system visions of pedagogical activity.