ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCE AS A COMPONENT OF THE DEMOCRACY CULTURE OF STUDENTS

. There is an urgent need to establish a democratic environment of economic life of society in the conditions of formation of free enterprise and market economy in Ukraine. This gives grounds to interpret the essence of entrepreneurial competence of the individual not only as part of the formation of values of democratic life, improving the welfare of each person and the economic condition of the country and society as a whole, but also as a component of a culture of democracy in students. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to highlight the essence of the phenomenon of entrepreneurial compe-tence, the definition and characterization of the structure of this concept Results. Based on the theoretical analysis of the views of modern scientists, the content of entrepreneurial competence of high school students is considered in the unity of the following components: the value sphere of personality, its orientation, the ability of the individual to self-realization in socio-economic life. These components manifest themselves on the cognitive, emotional and activ-ity levels.This led to the separation in the structure of entrepreneurial competence of cognitive, emotional-value and activity-practical components.The cognitive compo-nent is characterized by awareness of the essence of the values of democracy and basic economic laws as the basis of entrepreneurial consciousness and self-awareness of students.The emotional and value compo-nent is determined by the democratic orientation of the behaviour of student youth in the socio-economic life of society. Activity-practical component is characterized by self-determination and self-realization of high school students in the socio-economic sphere of public life, the accumulation of personal experience as subjects of demo-cratic interaction. Originality. In the context of the culture of democracy, it is proposed to define entrepreneurial competence as a set of knowledge, skills, habits, values, attitudes and experience, which together will ensure the successful operation of high school students as subjects of democrat-ic interaction in the socio-economic sphere of public life.Students are preparing to become competitive profession-als in adult life, get acquainted with the basic economic laws and problems of society, choose a future profession, learn to work in a team, take an active part in community service, realize themselves as future taxpayers, get ac-quainted of consumer rights and learn to protect them in legitimate ways both individually and through civil society institutions. It is emphasized that entrepreneurial competence is characterized by students' awareness of the purpose and motives of their own activities in a market economy, mas-tering the ability to plan, act independently and carry out self-assessment of actions and deeds, the ability to gain experience in a democratic environment of socio-economic life. Here are defined the terminal, instrumental and oper-ational values on which the entrepreneurial competence of student youth in the conditions of a democratic society is based. Terminal value “welfare” as a goal of a democratic society is provided by the realization of such instrumental values as “private property”, “free enterprise”, “socially useful work” and implies the presence in the personal system of such operational values as ability to profes-sional self-determination, readiness to become a competi-tive specialist, ability to socially useful work.Mastering these values will help high school students realize their self-worth in a democratic society, will help to understand how a person should live, build one’s own destiny, to evaluate oneself and one’s own existence, what purpose to long for. The article deals with qualitative characteristics of en-trepreneurial competence of a high school student, based on the values of democracy, democratic behaviour and activity, ability to self-determination, self-realization in various spheres of life related to their own social status and well-being, as well as the development of society and the state as a whole. Conclusion. Elucidation of the essence of entrepre-neurial competence in the context of the culture of individ-ual democracy, definition and characterization of its com-ponent structure will promote the development of theoreti-cal and practical principles of specially organized educa-tional process that will ensure self-determination and self-realization of high school students as subjects of demo-cratic interaction in the socio-economic sphere of public life.