DIGITAL COMPETENCE OF A TEACHER IN THE INFORMATION AND EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT OF A HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN CHALLENGES

Introduction. Today's world is characterized by the active formation of a global environment of international communication, and digitalization of the economic, social, scientific and educational sectors of society. These phenomena indicate that the global processes of the early twenty-first century are at the stage of transformation on a historical scale, one of the priority areas of which is digitalization in education. The need to introduce digital technologies into the educational process became especially acute with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and later with the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, when it became vital to quickly adopt non-standard innovative solutions. The functioning of education under martial law is determined by the search for new approaches to teaching, new forms of organizing the educational process, and effective pedagogical and information and communication technologies. In view of this, active digitalization of the education sector during the war has become one of the priority areas of activity of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and its structural units. Purpose. The article aims to define the concept of the digital competence of a teacher, to analyse the problems of readiness of scientific and pedagogical workers to use digital technologies and to characterize the structure of the digital competence of a teacher. Methods. To outline the essence of the digital competence of the teacher, such general scientific methods of scientific knowledge as analysis and synthesis, descriptive, problematic to determine the state of the problem under study; systemic and structural, comparative - to characterize the features of professional training of teachers in postgraduate teacher education. Results. The scientific research focuses on one of the key competencies of a modern teacher, in particular, digital competence and the ways of its formation. The author specifies the concept of «digital competence of a teacher», which is understood as a set of knowledge, skills, and abilities to use digital technologies for communication, cooperation, professional development and growth, search, creation and dissemination of digitalresources, organization of the educational process and research, information processing, communication, creation of educational content and solving production issues. The following components in the structure of a teacher's digital competence are identified: information literacy; computer literacy; communication literacy; media literacy; and awareness of technical innovations. It is the development of these indicators that should be the focus of the methodology of any course to improve the digital competence of teachers and research and teaching staff. Originality. The novelty of the work is to substantiate the need for the development of digital competence of pedagogical and scientific and pedagogical workers, to analyse the problem of the readiness of scientific and pedagogical workers to use digital technologies. Conclusion. In view of the above, digital competence and digital learning should be based on the principles of a proactive, active, flexible approach to the organization of the educational process. Digital learning is a priority for the education of the future, namely for the functioning of distance and blended learning, while ensuring the development of digital competence components and increasing the digital literacy and culture of the subjects of the educational process. Increasing the level of digital competence of teachers contributes to their professional growth and the creation of a modern and effective educational environment.