Methodology for Organizing an Ascertaining Experiment to Study the Development of Leadership Competence of Operational-Level Officers in the System of Professional Military Education

Abstract

The article substantiates the methodology for organizing an ascertaining experiment to study the development of leadership competence of operational-level officers in the system of professional military education.

The relevance of the problem is determined by the transformation of Ukraine’s military education system, the need to align officer training with NATO approaches, the experience of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the demand for officers capable of acting under conditions of uncertainty, making responsible managerial decisions, organizing inter-service and interagency cooperation, maintaining trust within the team, and ensuring effective command and control in a complex operational environment.

The scientific novelty of the study lies in substantiating the methodology for organizing an ascertaining experiment specifically aimed at studying the development of leadership competence of operational-level officers in the system of professional military education. The content of leadership competence is clarified as an integrated professional quality combining motivational-value, cognitive-analytical, activity-managerial, communicative-interactional, and reflective-personal components. The logic of its diagnosis is proposed through the combination of criteria, indicators, levels, and a set of empirical methods.

The article proposes a program for organizing an ascertaining experiment, which includes preparatory, diagnostic, and analytical-generalizing stages. The tasks of the experiment, methods of obtaining empirical data, criteria, and indicators of the development of leadership competence of operational-level officers are defined. The expediency of using questionnaires, self-assessment, expert evaluation, testing, observation, analysis of practice-oriented tasks, interviews, and analysis of educational performance results is substantiated.