The specifics of the digital transformation of technological education: The assessment of teachers’ professional difficulties and digital deficits

Introduction. The article addresses the problem of improving technological education in modern conditions of digitalization. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the digital transformation of technological education based on the assessment of professional difficulties and digital deficiencies of teachers Materials and Methods. The research investigation follows systematic, learner-centered, and activity-based approaches that allow the authors to identify key aspects of the profound changes in teachers’ professional practices in the context of digitalization of education. An environmental approach identifies the components of the educational environment for its typological modeling in technological education. The study analyzed the data obtained by means of the online survey to identify digital deficits and professional difficulties of Technology teachers in eight regions of the Russian Federation: the Far Eastern, Volga, Northwestern, Siberian, Ural, Central and Southern regions. Results. The professional difficulties of teachers caused by the lack of digital equipment and full methodological support for the development of advanced production technologies have been identified. The main digital deficits of Technology teachers related to the development of digital equipment, the formation of general professional digital competencies, the design and management of a digital educational environment are summarized. It is proved that in overcoming digital deficits, it is necessary not only to improve the digital competencies of teachers; the Technology teacher will have to learn how to create an expanded and digitally enriched educational environment, attracting internal and external partners of the institution, adjusting the subject-material, psychodidactic and social components of the environment to a new integrity, in a combination of contact and digital practices, responding to the challenges of modern industry and digitalization of technological education. Conclusions. The results obtained in the study indicate that it is necessary to form the readiness of Technology teachers for profound changes in professional field. They have to constantly adjust the educational process to the dynamic renewal of production technologies, designing and effectively using the digital educational environment to enhance the personalization of teaching, learning and independent learning activities of schoolchildren, responding to new demands for the preparation of a person who will study, choose a profession and develop in a dynamically changing digital environment.