DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENT LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of development of student leadership competencies in the process of their study at the university. Today, the Russian-Ukrainian war highly motivates teachers of higher education institutions to form leadership qualities of the future professionalspatriots of their country. The main challenges of education in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war are: destruction of the infrastructure of institutions of higher education, psychological depression of both students and teachers, low motivation to study, lack of digital infrastructure, etc. Despite the full-scale war, Ukrainian school graduates continue to make plans for the future in our country. The admission campaign statistics of 2022 indicates high level of patriotic education of the Ukrainian youth. The analysis of three theories of leadership (theory of traits, situational theory, system theory) indicates the fact that the phenomenon of leadership appears in a situation where a problem needs to be solved and consists of three components: personal traits of the leader; the nature of the group-members; the problem to be solved. The terms “leader”, “leadership” and “leadership competencies” are defined. Three groups of leadership competencies are introduced. Clear examples of leadership competencies are offered. The pedagogues contribute significantly to the development of professionally important leadership qualities of students. Their role lies in the use of innovative methods and techniques of studentsʼ leadership competencies development. To such methods and techniques we refer: methods of self-leadership development, methods of teaching communication skills, game-based methods, methods based on learning in groups, interactive learning methods. We conclude that the development of student leadership is the necessity of today’s Ukrainian society.