Abstract
<jats:p>Abstract The article provides a comprehensive analytical and theoretical analysis of the problem of forming digital citizenship in future IT specialists in the context of developing soft skills as an integral part of their professional competence, social maturity and personal self-development. The relevance of the study is determined by the deepening processes of digitalisation of society, the intensive integration of information technologies into all spheres of human life and the growing responsibility of IT specialists for the consequences of creating, implementing and supporting digital products and services. In the context of the digital transformation of education, it is particularly important to combine a high level of technical training with the formation of ethical guidelines, legal culture, critical thinking, communicative competence, the ability to interact interpersonally, teamwork, self-reflection and the adoption of socially responsible decisions in professional activities. The state of scientific development of the specified problem in domestic and foreign research within the concepts of digital competence, media literacy, civic education, information security, and the development of supra-professional skills has been analysed. Approaches to the interpretation of the concepts of ‘digital citizenship’ and ‘soft skills’ are summarised, their content, structure and functional characteristics are clarified, and the interrelationship in the system of professional training of higher education seekers in the field of IT is determined. The expediency of considering digital citizenship as an integrative characteristic of personality, combining cognitive, value-motivational, behavioural and reflective components and manifested in responsible, ethical, law-abiding and socially oriented activities in the digital environment, is substantiated. The leading pedagogical approaches to training future IT specialists in the conditions of a digital educational environment are outlined, and theoretical and methodological gaps associated with insufficient systematisation of the principles of digital citizenship formation in the system of higher technical education are identified. The results of the study create a theoretical basis for further substantiation of pedagogical conditions, clarification of structural components and development of methods for the formation of digital citizenship in the process of professional training.</jats:p>