This research is devoted to the problem of transformation of modern teacher education in accordance with the present-day challenges. The article presents the analysis of methodological approaches to solving this problem, and the results of authors’ empirical study. The study was conducted at the Academy of Psychology and Pedagogy of the Southern Federal University. Ninety-five students of the profile “Primary Education” were tested. According to the results of the empirical study the actual training of primary school teachers is more focused on the formation of students’ professional hard skills competencies which contain fundamental knowledge in the field of pedagogy and psychology, pedagogical research, digital knowledge and skills. The hard skills of half of the respondents are at a high level of formation. Soft skills and self-skills competencies are less developed according to the basic level. The soft skills competencies contain developed systemic and critical thinking, self-organization and self-development and many others. The authors assume and reveal that the formation of self-skills competencies depends on the ability of a teacher to empathize with the students. The study revealed a very close relationship between the level of students’ self-skills competencies and the level of their empathy. The results of the initial stage of the study confirmed the need to develop an innovative model of primary school teachers training, built on the basis of the integration of practice- and fundamental-oriented approaches. The results of the study at the intermediate stage showed some growth of the level of competence formation among the students of the experimental group.

present-day challenges, primary school teacher, hard skills competencies, soft skills competencies, self-skills competencies.