Natalia Ye. Tihanova

The modern regulatory framework of higher education significantly changes the appearance of the university and necessitates a dynamic revision of the goals and content of the educational process, methods of achieving results and their diagnostics. A modern teacher should be ready to actively master and use new technologies, as well as create original effective technologies in pedagogical activity, primarily in the activity on methodological support of the educational process. The above said with all its acuteness raises the question of improving the level of methodological competence of a higher education teacher. This is impossible to imagine without a theoretical justification of its content in accordance with systemic reforms. The aim of the article is to substantiate the qualitative features of the methodological activity of a teacher in the modern higher education system focused on the personality of the student, and to reveal the content of his/her methodological competence on their basis. The results of the study are based on the normative trends in the development of personality-oriented learning in Russia and the corresponding requirements for the methodological activities of higher education organizations, the specification of which in relation to the functions of the teacher made it possible to present the content of the methodological competence of an educator in a modern university. Methodological competence, in our opinion, consists of particular methodological competences of general and special implication. The theoretical significance of the study consists in generalizing and presenting educational innovations contained in the current educational standards and other regulatory documents from the perspective of appropriate transformations in professional activities for methodological support of all elements of the student-centered educational process. We are talking about the goals and content of training, its forms, methods and means, as well as diagnostics of educational results. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using the presented content of the methodological work of a university teacher in organizing the training of teaching staff for methodological activities, drawing up appropriate educational programs or assessing the methodological competency of the university faculty.

In the context of ongoing educational transformations, the tasks and functions of the faculties of higher education institutions are becoming more complex, which entails the need to change the methodological support of the educational process. The implementation of new approaches to the organization of methodological activities in higher education is associated, first of all, with the degree of expression of the methodological competence of an individual teacher. Therefore, various aspects of the phenomenon of a teacher’s methodological competence at a modern university are one of the significant subjects of scientific research. The aim of the article is to theoretically substantiate the concept of "methodological competence of a higher education teacher" in the context of the existing educational environment and its structure. The consideration of the methodological competence of a teacher of the higher education system was preceded by a retrospective analysis of domestic and foreign articles in the field of professional competence, a particular manifestation of which is methodological competence. As the main results of the study, a modern view on the concept of "methodological competence of a higher education teacher" is presented from the position of a functional approach, taking into account the integral essence of professional competence and practical significance. A model of the structure of methodological competence is also proposed, including components (gnoseological, praxeological and axiological) and four levels described using universal descriptors. These universal descriptors can be refined based on current requirements for the content of methodological competence. In our opinion, it should be expressed in the language of particular methodological competencies or competences. The theoretical significance of the study lies in the fact that the interpretation of the methodological competency of a university teacher in relation to today's realities serves as the basis for solving the problem of identifying or updating the organizational-pedagogical and psychological-pedagogical conditions for its formation. The study is also significant from a practical point of view, since the developed model of the methodological competency structure can be used by educational organizations of the additional professional education system when working out programs aimed at improving methodological activities, as well as for intra-university monitoring of its effectiveness.