Pre-Service Teacher Training for the Developing Student’ Technological Culture: From Digital Literacy to Value-Based and Reflective Worldview

Abstract

This article analyzes the problem of preparing future teachers to foster students’ technological culture in the context of implementing the Russian Federation’s state order for the training of engineering and technological personnel. The aim of the study is to develop and experimentally substantiate the effectiveness of a model for preparing teachers to foster students’ technological culture. A combination of theoretical methods and a pedagogical experiment were applied. It was established that teachers’ technological culture is a system-forming factor in their preparation for fostering such culture in students, and its structure and content were identified. A distinctive feature of the developed and implemented model is its ability to overcome the traditional “instrumental-prescription” approach by shifting the emphasis from digital literacy to technological culture, which includes not only a set of skills but also values, thinking, worldview, reflection, the integration of technological training with fundamental psychological and pedagogical knowledge, and the provision of an interdisciplinary and proactive nature of the holistic pedagogical process. The experiment involved 257 third- and fourth-year students: 128 in the experimental group and 129 in the control group. Effectiveness was assessed using four readiness criteria. By the end of the experiment, the proportion of students in the experimental group with a high level of readiness reached 38.3%, while in the control group, a low level was predominant. Statistically significant differences between the groups were confirmed for all criteria (p < 0.001). Correlation analysis revealed a strong positive relationship between teachers’ level of technological culture and their readiness to instill it in students. It is concluded that teacher training focused on fostering technological culture as an integrative professional and personal quality ensures a higher level of teacher readiness to instill technological culture in students. The developed model demonstrated effectiveness during pilot testing and can be used in the educational process at pedagogical universities.