Introduction. The model of assessing the competence of teachers has a direct impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of the entire education system. Currently, pedagogical science defines a methodological approach to the content and procedure for assessing the competence of teachers of educational organisations, as well as a methodological guideline characterising the specifics of  pedagogical work in  the field of  vocational education. The assessment of  the competence of  teachers of  vocational education organisations should also be guided by these specifics. However, the discussion of the assessment tools used in practice and proposed in publications indicates the problematic nature of the methodological foundations selected for it.

The aim of  the article is  to identify the problematic aspects of  methodological foundations for assessing the competence of  teachers of  vocational education organisations and to argue in favour of those foundations that would lead to a consensus among all stakeholders. 

The methodology of the study is a comparative and analytical review, a critical rethinking of  the methodological foundations of  modern theory and practice of  assessing the competence of teachers of vocational education organisations. 

Results. The existing list of methodological foundations for assessing the competence of teachers of vocational education organisations should be improved. The results of the included (immanent) monitoring of the sphere of vocational education and the labour market together with digital tracking of  teachers’ professional activity and matching of their skills should be taken into account. 

The scientific novelty consists in a reasoned proposal of ways to further improve the theory and practice of assessing the competence of teachers of vocational education organisations. 

The practical significance consists in  a reasoned proposal of  such ways to  further improve the theory and practice of assessing the competence of teachers of vocational education organisations, which are currently used by  the most advanced personnel services of enterprises in the real sector of the economy. 

Funding. The study was funded by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation as  an implementation of  the state task “Development of  a model for the formation and improvement of  the skills of  teaching staff, including the development of  a methodology for modern assessment of the professional competence of teaching staff of the vocational education system based on monitoring of the educational sphere and the labour market” (applied research, No. 073-00104-22-01).

Introduction. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the issues of institutional memory and symbolic chronology, including in the system of vocational education, which is facilitated, in particular, by the establishment of the Day of Secondary Vocational Education (SVE), officially established by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 25 July 2022 and annually celebrated on 2 October. The proposal to celebrate in 2025 the anniversary of SVE, timed to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR ‘On State Labour Reserves’ of 2 October 1940, raises certain historical and terminological questions. 

The aim is to understand the phenomenon of choosing a calendar date for a celebrated event in the context of the socio–cultural history of the country. 

Methods. The methodology of reflection is based on the structural-functional approach to socio-cultural processes, the apophatic paradigm and the sourceological bases of analysis, which actualise the potential of the method of explication of meanings. 

Results. A model of vocational education (VE) focused solely on supplying the labour market with personnel and adapting to it requires a clear chronology, defined reference points and periodisation of processes, as well as fixed and permanent occasions for celebration. A model of VE aimed at acting as a catalyst for economic development is multi-variant and ambiguous — both in terms of the existing structure of the labour market and the institutional structure of the economy, as well as in terms of its chronology, which is multidirectional and cannot be reduced to a single common denominator. 

Scientific novelty lies in explaining the causes of polychrony, using the example of social responses to events in the history of domestic vocational education. 

The practical significance lies in the motivation for meaningful celebration.