Abstract
The article focusses on the problem of professional competencies formation of students-prospective teachers in relation to the development of critical thinking of school pupils. Based on the theoretical analysis of relevant psychological and pedagogical literature and on problem analysis, three possible approaches for training future teachers to achieve professional competencies which demonstrate their readiness to develop critical thinking of schoolchildren. The study was conducted in 2020–2021 academic year. Using the Watson–Glaser Test, levels of development of critical thinking of the third-year students-future teachers of English language are determined. With the testing method, level of mastery by students of theoretical foundations and approaches to the development of critical thinking are studied. Methods of control tasks describing pedagogical situations which allowed to determine students’ skills in using methods and techniques of CT development of pupils. The effectiveness of three possible approaches to the development of professional competencies related to critical thinking instruction are measured and compared. It is concluded that the most effective approach is through systematic integration of tasks of developing students-future teachers’ own capacity for critical thinking with formation of their readiness and competencies for professional pedagogical activities to develop critical thinking of school pupils.