Elena A. Khodyreva

In the era of teacher education transformation, associated with the need to ensure that the training of future teachers meets the requirements of industry 4.0, the interest of the educational community in the formation, assessment and development of digital competences of students in the main professional educational programs of the enlarged group "Education and Pedagogical Sciences" is natural. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the methodology of competence-based and situational approaches to assessing the digital competences of future teachers in the context of the transformation of teacher education. The objectives of the study are: 1. To substantiate the essence and specific features of the assessment of digital competences of future teachers based on competence-based and situational approaches. 2. To assess the level of formation of students’ digital competences based on the model of key competences of the digital economy and develop recommendations for improving the assessment of digital competences of future teachers. The leading research methods were: pedagogical modeling of the assessment of digital competences; study of normative legal acts in the field of higher education; analysis of local acts of educational organizations in the field of digital competences assessment; survey methods. The study was conducted on the basis of the Vyatka State University. The experiment involved 104 students (II–IV courses) of bachelor's degree studies in the area of training "Pedagogical education". In general, the proposed approaches will make it possible to develop innovative solutions to improve the quality of teacher education in the context of its transformation. The research results obtained in the course of the study can be used by scientific and pedagogical workers of educational institutions of higher education, experts who provide an assessment of the digital competences of future teachers in the context of "blended" learning formats use, and also develop innovative solutions to improve the quality of teacher education in the context of its transformations.

The urgency of the problem under examination is caused by the need to update the content and procedures of external assessment of the quality of vocational education, an essential factor of which is the improvement of expert activity. Identifying the characteristics and potential of expert activity, determining its opportunities for the development of higher education, improving the quality of professional activity, personal and professional improvement of experts will significantly improve its quality. The purpose of the article is to justify the characteristics and potential of the expert activity in the field of external quality assessment of higher education, the identification of which will ensure the objectivity and high quality of this work, the maximum involvement of experts in this type of activity. The leading methods of research of the problem were: pedagogical modeling and design, theoretical analysis and generalization of educational practice of expert activity in the field of external assessment of the quality of education in a university (using the example of accreditation expertise), as well as methods of mathematical statistics, which made it possible to examine the potential of expert activity on the basis of analysis of its complex opportunities associated with the development of higher education, improving the quality of professional activities, personal and professional development of experts. The article reveals a set of theoretical provisions that determine the nature and specificity of the expert activity in the field of external quality assessment of higher education. The potential of expert activity in the field of assessing the quality of higher education in its external and internal aspects, its principles, content and procedure are determined based on the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of education. It was studied on the basis of the opinion of qualified experts in the field of state accreditation of educational institutions and scientific organizations. The materials of the article can be useful for updating the expert activity in the field of external quality assessment of higher education in terms of both the methodology and the procedure for its implementation, taking into account the characteristics and potential of the expert activity, as well as in developing concepts for training experts in the field of external quality assessment of higher education.

The relevance of the study is due to the discrepancy between the traditional criteria and their indicators for assessing the conformity of professional competences levels of bachelors in the field of environmental protection at the University with the requirements of professional standards. The analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature shows that the authors ambiguously interpret the concepts of “criterion” and “indicator”, some of them do not differentiate their meanings. The questions of criteria and indicators selection for determining the formation of professional competences among students of various areas of training were examined in sufficient detail in scientific studies, but their discussion for bachelors in the field of environmental protection at the university was not adequately reflected. In connection with the updating of federal state educational standards of higher education, there is also a need to specify and justify the criteria and their indicators, which allow to identify the levels of formation of professional competences among bachelors in the field of environmental protection at the university. The purpose of the article is to determine the criteria for the formation of professional competences of bachelors in the field of environmental protection at the university. To solve the research problems, the authors used methods of analysis of psychological and pedagogical works, pedagogical modeling and design; the study and generalization of pedagogical experience made it possible to identify the criteria for the formation of professional competences of bachelors in the field of environmental protection at the university, to determine the configuration of their indicators, structural components and levels of formation. It has been found out that the criteria for the formation of professional competences of bachelors in the field of environmental protection are considered as a set of objective indicators representing a qualitative characteristic of its condition, through which it is possible to identify its features and evaluate the formation of structural components in the process of environmental protection activity. The identified criteria and the proposed diagnostic tools allow us to determine the level of formation of the structural components of professional competences in the educational process at the university, as well as to identify promising areas of work that will increase the efficiency of the process of forming professional competences for bachelors in the field of environmental protection at the university, and in the system of continuing education for experts in the field of environmental safety.

The relevance of the study is due to the need to ensure the quality of vocational education. The quality of network educational programs implementation as innovative forms of the educational process in higher education system is of particular importance. The analysis of articles and experience in assessing the quality of the implementation of network educational programs shows that this issue is considered quite systematically. The characteristics and features of the quality assessment of network educational programs implementation are presented, criteria and indicators are proposed, methods and diagnostic tools are justified. However, due to the need for universities to develop and implement basic vocational educational programs based on updated federal state educational standards for higher education, the methodology and procedures for assessing the quality of networked educational programs implementation in higher education need to be improved. The purpose of the article is to identify the features of the quality assessment of network-based educational programs implementation in higher education in the context of federal state educational standards requirements for higher education. To solve the problems of the research, the following methods were used: analysis of legal documents, pedagogical modeling and design; study of the universities’ experience of the local acts development concerning the implementation of network educational programs; study of the conclusions of expert groups containing information on the results of assessing the quality of network educational programs implementation. It was found that the features of assessing the quality of network educational programs implementation in higher education depend on the specifics of the network form, which provides the opportunity for students to master the educational program using the resources of several organizations, as well as the model of network educational programs chosen by the educational organization. The results of the research may be used for the development of local acts by universities, regulating the implementation of network educational programs; they can help universities determine the ways of improving interaction with organizations which resources may be used to increase the quality of vocational education.

The urgency of the problem is caused by the need to integrate the Russian higher education system into the world educational space and to ensure the export of Russian higher education. For successful social and professional adaptation of graduates of Russian universities, it is important to synchronize educational programs implemented in Russia and abroad. This problem is especially important for PhD programs, which are widely distributed in foreign universities, but do not have an official status in the Russian Federation. The purpose of the article: to determine the prospects for PhD programs in the Russian Federation on the basis of studying the nature and characteristics of these programs implemented abroad, and to generalize the experience of their implementation in a number of Russian higher education institutions. The leading methods of the problem study were theoretical analysis and generalization of the educational practice of implementing PhD programs, as well as methods for studying information provided on official websites of higher education institutions and analyzing local normative legal acts of universities in terms of positioning PhD programs. The article reveals a set of theoretical provisions that determine the nature and characteristics of PhD programs, defines the basic principles for their implementation, and identifies the main types of PhD programs in relation to programs for training highly qualified personnel in post-graduate school. The type and characteristics of these programs are considered based on the analysis of information about PhD programs presented on the official sites of a number of higher education institutions, as well as features of their implementation and characteristics of documents issued after the completion of the program. The prospects of PhD programs are determined, related to the complex implementation of their potential (opportunities). The materials of the article may be useful for the modernization of training programs for highly qualified personnel that ensure the integration of the Russian higher education system into the world educational space.