PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY TRAINING AS A MEANS OF FUTURE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The paper aims to check the efficiency of the developed training aimed at the formation of professional identity of university students majoring in primary education. The professional identity formation is a complex process, which is why the purpose of the research is to examine the dynamics of the development of professional identity. The study involved 162 students majoring in Primary Education of Melitopol Bohdan Khmelnytskyi State Pedagogical Universi-ty. The respondents were randomly selected in total 60 surveyed and were divided into control and experimental groups 30 persons each. The main research tool to examine professional identity of the respondents was Professional Identity Status Scale developed by A. Azbel and A. Hretsova. This technique helps to identify the “level” (uncertain, imposed, moratorium or mature professional identity) of professional self-determination. According to the initial assessment, almost half of future primary school teachers have mature professional identity but almost the same num-ber of the students are characterized by the “moratorium”professional identity. A significant number of students have an imposed and uncertain professional identity. This fact proves the necessity of psychological support for the for-mation of the professional identity of future primary school teachers.The introduction of the training program result-ed in an increase of the levels of key factors in the development of the professional identity of future primary school teachers.