FUNCTIONAL-CONTENT MODEL FOR IMPROVING SOCIO-MORAL COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT MECHANISMS IN STUDENTS

Abstract

The article examines the issue of organizing the process of developing socio-moral competencies in higher education students as a unified system. The author's "Competence Cube" functional-content model, its structural components, and six pedagogical mechanisms are described, with experimental testing results briefly presented. Today, graduates need not only professional knowledge but also a sense of social responsibility and the ability to make moral choices in conflicting situations. These qualities are crucial for future teachers. However, socio-moral education is often episodic, lacking a systematic approach to assessing initial states, individualizing approaches, and adjusting pedagogical influence. Consequently, individual activities, while useful, do not form a coherent system. The study defines socio-moral competence as a holistic personal quality combining knowledge of norms, internal value-based attitudes, and responsible decision-making. It comprises cognitive, emotional-motivational, and behavioral components. The model was experimentally tested with 484 students across three pedagogical institutes. In the experimental group, the proportion of high-level students increased from 9.8% to 20.9%, while low-level students decreased from 73.0% to 29.5%. The effectiveness of developing socio-moral competencies depends on their systemic integration. The proposed model unifies existing pedagogical tools into a single, feedback-managed process from diagnosis to correction, applicable within existing academic subjects, club activities, and tutoring, requiring no separate course.