Training experts in educational content evaluation as a factor in ensuring the quality of education

Abstract

The article presents a comprehensive theoretical and methodological analysis of the training of educational content experts as an important factor in ensuring the quality of modern education. The relevance of the study is determined by transformations in the educational environment driven by digitalization, the implementation of a competency-based approach, the expansion of digital educational resources, and growing requirements for the psychological safety and developmental potential of educational content. The study substantiates the need to consider the evaluation of educational materials not merely as a procedure for establishing their compliance with regulatory and didactic requirements, but as a comprehensive psychological and pedagogical process aimed at assessing the potential impact of educational content on learners' personal development. The aim of the article is to theoretically substantiate a model for training educational content experts, define the structure of their psychological and pedagogical competence, and develop a system of criteria for evaluating the quality of educational materials. The study is theoretical and methodological in nature. The methods employed include theoretical analysis, comparison, generalization of scientific sources, systematization, classification, content analysis, and modeling. The source base comprised scholarly works by Ukrainian and international researchers in pedagogy, psychology, didactics, professional training, digital education, and educational quality, as well as regulatory and methodological documents and materials produced by international organizations. It is substantiated that psychological and pedagogical expertise of educational content is a multidimensional interdisciplinary process of evaluating educational materials in terms of their compliance with the principles of psychological development, pedagogical objectives, competency-based orientations, and sociocultural conditions. The structure of the expert's psychological and pedagogical competence is defined as comprising cognitive, operational-activity, value-motivational, and reflective components. A training model is proposed that includes target, content, procedural, and assessment-reflective blocks. A system of criteria for evaluating the psychological and pedagogical quality of educational content is defined: age and individual appropriateness, development of cognitive activity and critical thinking, motivational potential, psychological safety, competency orientation, and sociocultural sensitivity. It is emphasized that, in the context of educational digitalization, expert evaluation should also take into account the accessibility, ethical dimensions, informational and psychological safety of digital resources, as well as their potential impact on the cognitive, emotional, and social development of learners. The scientific novelty lies in clarifying the content of the psychological and pedagogical competence of educational content experts and substantiating a training model as an integrative system combining theoretical, practical, and reflective components. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using the findings to improve training, retraining, and professional development programs for experts, as well as procedures for the psychological and pedagogical evaluation of educational resources.