Pedagogical design as a cross-cutting technology in the training of pedagogy students

Background. The current state of higher pedagogical education requires the search for effective technologies that ensure the formation of professional competencies of future teachers in accordance with the requirements of the Russian Federal State Educational Standards and the Professional Standard for Teachers. In this regard, the importance of pedagogical design increases as it is believed to be a universal cross-cutting technology integrating the theoretical and practical training of students, fostering their professional mobility, independence, innovative thinking, and readiness to solve real pedagogical tasks.

The relevance of choosing this technology is determined by the need to study the content and organization of the educational process in pedagogical universities aimed at developing students’ ability to independently design learning activities, model them, analyze, and assess their effectiveness. Pedagogical design makes it possible to create conditions for implementing the principles of activity-based, competency-based, learner-centered, and anthropological approaches, which contribute to forming in future teachers not only subject knowledge but also methodological, communicative, research, and reflective skills.

The scientific novelty of the study lies in the consideration of pedagogical design as a cross-cutting technology in student training, permeating all stages of their professional development – from mastering theoretical disciplines to completing teaching practice and participating in research projects. This approach ensures continuity, integrity, and practice-oriented training of future teachers. The rationale for selecting pedagogical design as the subject of the study is associated with its potential to address one of the central tasks of modern pedagogy, i.e. training a competitive, competent, highly professional specialist capable of creatively transforming the educational environment.

The purpose of the study is to provide a theoretical rationale for the essence of pedagogical design as a cross-cutting technology in the system of training pedagogy students and to determine its role in the formation of professional competencies of future teachers.

Materials and methods. The study employed theoretical methods (analysis and synthesis of scientific literature, modeling of the structure of project activities) as well as empirical methods (observation, questionnaires, surveys of students and teachers, quantitative and qualitative data analysis). The empirical base included data collected in 2023–2025 during the analysis of the educational process of students majoring in Pedagogical Education (103 individuals) at I.Ya. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University, studying at the Faculty of Physics, Mathematics, Informatics, and Technology.

Results. The main essence of pedagogical design lies in creating a holistic educational environment in which project-based activities become a constant, systemic mechanism for developing students’ professional readiness for future employment. The study identified the specific features of using pedagogical design as a cross-cutting technology for forming professional competencies in pedagogy students. It was established that integrating project activities into the educational process promotes the development of future teachers’ skills in planning, teamwork, information search and analysis, and the use of digital technologies. While carrying out academic projects within several disciplines, students set goals and objectives, planned the stages of project work, distributed functions within a group, and searched for and analyzed relevant information sources.

The analysis showed that participation in project activities contributes to the formation of research competencies, i.e., students master methods of pedagogical analysis, diagnosis of educational situations, and reflective self-assessment. For example, as part of their term papers, future teachers independently conducted surveys among school students, developed questionnaires, processed the collected data, and formulated well-founded conclusions. The pedagogical experiment confirmed an increased level of professional competencies, greater student independence in designing educational processes, as well as enhanced reflection and creativity. Difficulties were identified related to students’ insufficient experience in project design and challenges in goal-setting, which indicate the need for strengthened methodological support in implementing this technology.