WAYS OF FORMING FUTURE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ CITIZENSHIP COMPETENCE IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS OF HEI

The modern world requires every person to be a true citizen of his / her state, capable of analysing external changes rapidly and comprehensively, responding adequately to them, to respect the laws of the country, the rights of other people, to be a patriot, to respect national history, culture, language, traditions, and to have a responsible attitude to rights and duties, to strive for democracy, to have an active civil position. Primary school plays a significant role in shaping the fundamentals of civil education of an individual, since personal values are brought up here, children learn about their rights and obligations for the first time, develop qualities and characteristics of the personality that guide and coordinate his / her further development as an active citizen of his / her country capable of conscious choice, having the established desire for justice, fairness, responsibility. Taking it into consideration, future primary school teachers should have in-depth knowledge of civil education, be competent in matters of democracy, and have developed civil competence. The purpose of the article is to reveal the ways of forming the civil competence of the future primary school teachers in the educational process of a higher education institution (HEI). An important aspect within our research is civil education of a person, whose goal is to prepare young people for active participation in the life of a democratic society and the development of a democratic culture. Civil competence is one of the key competencies of an individual. Civil competence can be understood as a set of educational elements (knowledge, skills, abilities), experiences, emotional value orientations, personal convictions that help a person to realize his / her place in society, as a duty and responsibility to compatriots, the homeland and the state. In the educational process of a HEI, it is possible and necessary to shape the civil competence of the future elementary school teachers. We proposed a system of exercises and tasks, which we implemented into the course “Fundamentals of pedagogical skills”, aimed at forming students' civil competence. Due to the diagnostics of the proficiency levels in students' civil competence at the stating and final stage of the experiment, the effectiveness of the proposed tasks and exercises was revealed, thus we came to the conclusion that it was necessary to include these activities into the educational process. The perspectives for further research are seen in the study of the methods facilitating the formation of students' civil competence during their studies at a HEI, expanding the range of subjects within which this competence can be formed.