Abstract
With the ongoing digital transformation of education systems, the need to foster innovative competence among prospective primary teachers has become increasingly evident. Traditional teacher training approaches do not always provide the competencies required for the effective implementation of innovations or the meaningful integration of digital technologies into educational practice. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of digital tools and innovative teaching methods on the development of innovative competence, digital literacy, and critical thinking among prospective primary school teachers. The study involved 60 undergraduate students from Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University enrolled in a primary education program and was conducted using a quasi-experimental mixed-methods design. Over the course of one academic semester (16 weeks), the experimental group participated in learning activities supported by digital platforms, project-based tasks, and interactive teaching methods, while the control group followed a traditional instructional program. The results demonstrated that the integration of digital tools and innovative teaching methods had a statistically significant positive impact on the development of innovative competence. Compared to the control group, students in the experimental group showed substantial improvements in innovative competence, digital literacy, and critical thinking. The mean score increases were 0.84 for innovative competence, 0.67 for digital literacy, and 0.76 for critical thinking, thereby confirming the effectiveness of the intervention. These findings suggest that the systematic integration of digital tools and innovative teaching methods can enhance the preparation of innovation-competent teachers and inform the improvement of teacher education curricula.