Model of formation of design competence of future engineer-teachers under the conditions of pedagogical practice

Abstract

The contemporary modernization of vocational education in Ukraine, driven by digital transformation, European integration processes, changes in the labor market, and the need to train competitive specialists, has brought the issue of developing design competence in future engineer-teachers to the forefront. This issue becomes particularly significant in the context of teaching practice, where the theoretical, methodological, research, and professional-technological components of students’ training are integrated.
The purpose of the article is to provide a theoretical substantiation, substantive elaboration, and structural functional modeling of the process of developing design competence in future engineer-teachers during teaching practice. The logic of the study builds upon the author’s previous research, in which the essence of the concept of “design competence of an engineer-teacher” was clarified and the specific features of its development in practical training were outlined. The research design was defined as a theoretical study with elements of a structured literature review and conceptual modeling; the research procedure included the selection of sources, their analytical grouping, and the synthesis of the structural elements of the model. It is substantiated that the contemporary training of engineer-teachers requires the purposeful development of design competence as an integrative quality that ensures the future specialist’s ability to design, implement, adjust, and evaluate pedagogical as well as professional-technological solutions. An analytical review of Ukrainian and international sources revealed a scholarly gap in modeling specifically the dual nature of the engineer-teacher’s design competence, that is, its pedagogical and engineering technological dimensions, within the framework of teaching practice. The findings demonstrated that the development of design competence in future engineer-teachers should be understood as a holistic, stage-by-stage organized process aimed at fostering motivational-value, cognitive, operational-activity, and reflective-evaluative components. A structural-functional model was developed, consisting of the following interrelated blocks: social demand, target block, content block, procedural block, organizational conditions, resultative block, and levels of development. For each block, its content, functions, and logic of interaction were specified. The criteria and indicators of design competence development were outlined, and four levels of its advancement were characterized: situational-intuitive, normative-reproductive, active-search, and creative-intellectual. It was demonstrated that teaching practice is not only a space for testing previously acquired knowledge and skills, but also the leading environment for integrating the pedagogical, engineering, and research experience of future engineer-teachers. The proposed model ensures the systemic nature of professional training, the последовательность? Wait need English: consistency/sequential progression of increasing complexity of design tasks, an enhanced level of student agency, and an orientation toward a reflective-evaluative outcome.