The rapid diffusion of digital technologies, constructivist learning paradigms, and competency-based standards has transformed expectations of teacher preparation programmes worldwide. Within this evolving landscape, the didactic competence of future history educators—understood as the integrated capacity to design, implement, and critically reflect on learning experiences that cultivate historical thinking—emerges as a pivotal quality benchmark. This article explores how innovative instructional methods, including project-based inquiry, flipped classroom design, and immersive digital simulations, shape the formation of didactic competence among pre-service history teachers at Gulistan State University. Employing a convergent mixed-methods design, the study triangulates quantitative gains in competency self-assessment scores with qualitative insights drawn from lesson‐plan analyses and reflective journals produced during a semester-long intervention. Results indicate that systematic exposure to innovation-centred pedagogy significantly elevates pre-service teachers’ mastery of content contextualisation, formative assessment strategies, and student-centred orchestration techniques. However, uneven digital literacy and restricted access to classroom technologies moderate these outcomes, underscoring the necessity of targeted infrastructure investment and sustained mentorship. The article concludes that an integrated approach aligning methodological innovation with reflective practice and institutional support offers a viable pathway for developing robust didactic competence in future history teachers.  

Didactic competence, teacher education, history pedagogy

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