DEVELOPING FUTURE TEACHERS' SCIENTIFIC-RESEARCH COMPETENCIES THROUGH A CREATIVE APPROACH: A STRUCTURAL MODEL AND ITS EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION

Abstract

This article addresses the problem of developing future teachers' scientific-research competencies within the paradigm of a creative approach in higher pedagogical education. Drawing on international and national research on the formation of research competence in teacher training, the study proposes a four-component structural-functional model comprising motivational-need-based, cognitive-analytical, creative-search and reflective-responsible components, integrated into the educational process of pedagogical universities through a specially designed digital research platform, case-based and project tasks, and scientific seminar-trainings organised within a creative pedagogues' club. To verify the methodology, a three-stage pedagogical experiment (diagnostic, formative and final) was carried out with 606 future teachers of pedagogy and psychology from three higher education institutions of Uzbekistan, divided into an experimental group (n = 306) and a control group (n = 300). Data were analysed using Student's t-test (Welch variant) and Cohen's d effect size at the 95% confidence level. The results showed no statistically significant difference between the groups at the diagnostic stage (t = 0.205; d = 0.017), a statistically significant difference at the formative stage (t = 5.896; d = 0.478; relative gain ΔX̄ = 9.62%), and a highly significant, practically large difference at the final stage (t = 11.665; p < 0.01; d = 0.948; ΔX̄ = 17.46%), a pattern consistently confirmed across all three institutions (relative gains of 17.29–17.65%). The findings demonstrate that a methodology grounded in the creative approach substantially and reliably improves future teachers' scientific-research competencies across cognitive, procedural and integrative-personal criteria, and it can therefore be recommended for wide implementation in teacher-training curricula and in-service professional development programmes.

Keywords

scientific-research competence; future teachers; creative approach; pedagogical model; higher education; research skills; didactic conditions; pedagogical experiment; Student's t-test; Cohen's effect size; reflective activity; creative pedagogy.