The article presents the principles of the methodology and the tools characteristics for the modern assessment of the teacher’s professional competence in the vocational education system. The interrelation of diagnosing assessment, attestation of pedagogical staff and independent assessment of qualifications, their role in creating conditions for the professional and personal development of each teacher is shown.

Formative assessment is a pedagogical technology based on feedback from an expert and teacher self-assessment so that the certified teacher himself determines further steps to improve his own results. It is called formative, because it involves not only self-assessment of the professional achievements of the certified teacher, but also their deep self-analysis in order to identify professional deficits and determine the individual trajectory of professional self-development. Formative assessment needs to be learned, which is why the article describes a structural and functional model for implementing the technology of formative assessment in the process of certification of teachers, consisting of three components: target, activity and result.