THE POTENTIAL OF THE ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE "HISTORY OF AVIATION" IN THE FORMATION OF SOFT SKILLS OF STUDENTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Authors:   Flight Academy of National Aviation University, ROMANKO Iryna 
Published: June 2023

The article is on the issue of the formation of universal soft skills of higher education students in aviation specialties in the process of teaching the academic discipline ″History of aviation″ at the Flight Academy of NAU. It is emphasized that soft skills are not only key predictors of professional development, but also ensure the formation of an active, creative position in relation to one's activities and one's own life. The article pays special attention to the substantiation to the possibilities of interactive teaching methods used in classes – ″case study″ and ″debates″ – in the context of the process of developing flexible skills of students related to social, intellectual, volitional and leadership competencies. The purpose of the article is to clarify the notion ″soft skills″, to analyze the component composition of universal skills of a modern aviation specialist, as well as to study methods and technologies of teaching ″History of aviation″ for the purpose of soft skills formation of students of higher education. It is essential to single out three areas as for the formation of ″soft skills″: cognitive, active and personal. The following technologies ensure the highest effectiveness of the educational process: problem and exploring technologies (partial exploring training, problem and research training, training based on ″brainstorming″ and others); modelling training technologies, or edutainment (situation playing, story playing, simulation, etc.); communicative and dialogic technologies (problem discussion, intergroup dialogue, discussion with playing modelling and some others). The training process at aviation higher school has to be targeted simultaneously at professional competences formation and transfer of fundamental knowledge in aviation field, as well as development of soft skills that will permit future graduate to ensure the functioning of the main production processes; to manage the situation optimally, to build team interaction, to have flexible approach in decision-making. History disciplines have great educational potential, promoting the development of personal qualities of students, make substantial contribution to improving quality of professional education and can be considered not only as academic discipline, but also as a means of obtaining valuable information regarding intellectual development and professional growth, improving students' mental skills. In our opinion, academic discipline ″History of aviation″ is an effective means of soft skills students' development. It was concluded that the introduction of interactive technologies will contribute to the intensification of the educational process, the formation of skills and habits that ensure the success of students' self-realization. Key words: ″soft skills″, students of higher education of aviation specialties, academic discipline ″History of aviation″, interactive teaching methods, innovative educational technology, case-study, ″debate″ technology.