Military and special competence in border guard officers is essential for their successful professional activities. The purpose of the article is to distinguish the relevant organizational methods for the formation of military and special competence as a necessary condition for enhancement of efficiency of the educational process and describe their implementation in the continuing education process. To achieve the purpose the following methods were used: theoretical methods (bibliographical method, comparative analysis, structural and systemic analysis, method of theoretical modeling, etc.), empirical methods (questionnaire, conversation, direct and indirect observation, testing, method of expert estimations, self-assessment), and pedagogical experiment. The study involved 160 cadets of second and third years who study for specialty "State border security" and "Law" at the National Academy of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine named after Bohdan Khmelnytskyi. During the research, we outlined the realization of guided and intentional influence upon the process of formation of military and special competence, verified the effectiveness of pedagogical system of formation of military and special competence in the continuing education process, explained the implementation of active teaching methods, information and communications technologies and acmeological approach to enhance the efficiency of educational process at the Academy. The attention was drawn towards the development of recommendations to lecturers to improve their practical skills of implementation of innovative organizational methods within the educational process. As a result, at the lessons, where information and communications technologies, active teaching methods, and acmeological approach were applied, the level of military and special competence increased significantly by two criteria -activity-practical and personalityfunctional.

Background. The cadets experienced particular difficulties in a pandemic period because due to isolation and faced a number of unanticipated challenges like stress, anxiety, and low learning outcomes. Objectives:The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of sport and traditional games to improve cadets' learning performance and motivation to learning activities and future service duties. Methods. The pedagogical experiment was organized at the Military Academy (Odesa, Ukraine) during the 2020-2021 academic year. The research group, on the basis of empirical research, designed the leisure time activities program using five categories of exercises: classical sport team games, individual sports, well-known Ukrainian traditional games; unknown foreign traditional games, and martial arts. Results. During 20 weeks the researchers observed EG and CG groups conducting interviews, analyzing cadets' behavior, monitoring their learning outcomes. The experiment findings revealed that the usage of sport and traditional games was an effective psychological and pedagogical technique to improve the learning process at the higher military educational establishment. On average, the technology effectiveness showed that qualitative changes by three points more. The largest increases were identified for high (3,6 points) and moderate degrees of effectiveness (7,8 points). At the same time, self-organized or poor-organized leisure leads to minor improvements in psychological condition and cognitive abilities among the cadets. Conclusion. Consequently, the usage of sport and traditional games would be an effective instrument applied in a post-pandemic period at the higher military educational establishments. Also, the study presented the recommendations to implement the games during the learning process at the higher military educational establishments.

The research aimed to outline the features of “new normal” communication behavior of young military leaders due to the COVID-19 pandemic influence. To study this critical problem we used some general scientific and empirical methods like literature analysis, synthesis and theoretical modelling, pedagogical experience, statistical data processing. The author found that the changes include development of closed and indirect forms, introduction of new lexical, grammatical, and stylistic units, fake information spread, misuse of information and communication technologies (ICT), periodical refusal to message with non-verbal tools. The findings show that professional discourse among young military leaders changes fast because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the transformations involve different communication behavior, the more significant role of leaders in study group especially in the context of peer-to-peer learning, critical thinking development, independent production and comprehension of professional utterances, higher responsibility of a speaker. The experiment demonstrates that military officers and cadets are likely to cope with new “rules of the game” and they continue to carry out security tasks prioritizing discipline, considerable motivation, psychological readiness to high-risk conditions and adaptability to counteract dramatic challenges. The article is one of the early researches reviewing the features of young military leaders’ discourse and describing its current transformations. The research can contribute to developement of recommendations for professional discourse improvements and, consequently, to enhance the efficiency of professional activities of military officers.

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On the basis of analysis of scientific pedagogical literature we have investigated the notions of «professional competence» and «professional military competence», also defined the category of professional competence of border guards in the Republic of India which is combination of professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes; and determines readiness of an expert of border agency to carry out professional activities efficiently. The essential condition of formation of professional competence of border guards is an integration of all its structural components described in the article. Having found that there are similar threats at the border in Ukraine and the Republic of India we have come to the conclusion that it is important to investigate the system of professional training of border guards in the Republic of India, professional competence of border guards in the Republic of India in particular, in order to reveal its strength with possible creative implementation in Ukraine.