Specifics of Practices for Assessing Competencies of Students of Pedagogical Profiles of Higher Education

The article reflects the results of a study related to the study of existing practices for organizing the assessment of professional competencies of students of pedagogical professions in the context of higher education. Analysis of studies on the problem shows that despite the variability of methods for assessing students’ competencies, in practice, most teachers use traditional methods of their assessment: oral or written exams, tests, tests, surveys, which allow assessing mainly students’ knowledge. The purpose of the study is to study the specifics of existing practices for organizing the assessment of competencies as a result of the professional development of students of pedagogical professions in the context of higher education. The article presents an analysis of local acts of higher education organizations regulating the certification process, describes the experience of the Herzen State Pedagogical University in developing methods for assessing students’ competencies within the framework of the project “Implementation of a competency-based approach in the development and testing of basic professional educational programs of higher education”. The study revealed the variability of the assessment tools use by universities, identified methods for assessing students’ Competencies during final certification, as well as seven groups of assessment tools for midterm certification. The division into groups is based on the types of questions and tasks that are offered to students. The data obtained allow us to continue research into the specifics of practices for organizing competency assessment not only through the analysis of regulatory documents of universities, but also by methods that allow us to assess the actual use of competency assessment methods, as well as to improve the assessment of students’ Competencies.