MODERN TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION IN THE DEVELOPED EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The article analyses the state of technology education integration in economically developed foreign countries in accordance with today’s requirements. The world’s leading trends in the context of providing comprehensive, equitable, and quality technology education as one of the leading goals of sustainable development, approved by the United Nations, are considered. The structure of technology education in Germany and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is described; features of technology education integration in France are considered. The importance of technological literacy and technological competence for the development of modern education, in general, is substantiated. The experience of such economically developed countries as Germany, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, France, and others shows that professional training for work in various fields is carried out today with the help of various educational disciplines. The content of these disciplines is a synthesis of new knowledge about nature, technology, and human activity in all spheres of life. Different terms of technology education are considered as synonyms of one universal goal of labour training by the world scientific and pedagogical community. It is the formation of students’ technological literacy through the development of knowledge and understanding of technology, developing technical skills, and understanding the links between technology and society. The main purpose of primary pupils’ technology education in these countries is the formation of technological literacy and technological competence. A characteristic trend of the studied countries is that the previously existing labor training in school, based only on the study of materials, tools, and technological processes of materials processing, is considered insufficient and outdated. Thus, the educational process in economically developed countries means primarily students who study changes in technology, and knowledge in this area should be flexible and provide a wide range of applications. Specific emphasis in the curriculum is made on practical activities, which include the following methods: work with means of labour; design product research; excursions and observations; project development; practical assessment; and history of technology development.