Abstract:

The article analyzes the current state and key issues of teachers’ professional development as an integral component of their creative individuality. It is emphasized that the concept of the professional development of a special education teacher belongs to interdisciplinary categories and is examined across various fields of knowledge. The study identifies the essential components of the professional development of special education teachers and determines the factors influencing the formation of innovative culture among future educators. The essence of innovation in education and the content of teachers’ innovative pedagogical culture are revealed, and different scholarly approaches to defining the concept of «innovative culture» are analyzed.

The structural components of innovative pedagogical culture are outlined, and the leading personal and professionally significant qualities of a modern special education teacher, as well as the specific features of their innovative activity, are examined. The study substantiates the proposition that the formation of innovative culture in primary school teachers during professional training is one of the key tasks of the educational process in higher education institutions. Particular attention is paid to shaping the personality of future special education teachers through the intensification of innovative processes in education, which ensures the development of innovative thinking, innovative culture, and readiness for innovative pedagogical activity.

The principles of innovative pedagogical activity are highlighted, including differentiation, individualization, democratization of education, and integration as a process that provides additional opportunities for creative development and for establishing a qualitative foundation for the intellectual-cognitive, emotional-value, and innovative culture of future special education teachers. A comprehensive theoretical and methodological analysis of the phenomenon of innovative culture is carried out in the context of the contemporary transformation of the system of special and inclusive education.

Keywords: innovative culture of a teacher, professional development, self-education, professional growth, self-development, self-improvement, professional ethics, creative individuality.

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