The regularities of developing students’ legal culture within a university educational environment

Introduction. The authors investigate the problem of developing university students’ legal culture as a generic competence contributing to their future competitiveness in the labor market. The aim of the research is to reveal the regularities of developing students’ legal culture within a university educational environment. Materials and Methods.The research employs the following set of methods: theoretical analysis of philosophical, pedagogical, psychological, sociological and methodological literature on the research subject; analysis of teaching experience; empirical methods (observation, questionnaires; testing and self-assessment, ascertaining and formative experiments); modeling; methods of mathematical statistics (accuracy of differences, correlation analysis). Results. The authors present the rationale for the methodological basis of developing legal culture of future engineers. The model of developing legal culture in future engineers within a university educational environment is clarified. The efficiency of its use in the system of professional training of technical specialists is proved. It is revealed that legal culture of future engineers includes the following blocks: the target, methodology, contents, organizational and educational block, criteria, evaluation and results. It is proved that the model of developing legal culture is effectively implemented within the following conditions: natural and continuous character of the process, taking into account external and internal factors, conscious participation of teachers and regular monitoring of the results. Conclusions.The authors conclude that the process of developing legal culture in engineering students is determined by a number of principles, which contribute to implementing a phased program on developing legal culture aimed at training specialists with a high level of legal culture.