Abstract. This article highlights the issues of the development of communicative and speech competence of a teacher in the system of continuing education, gives the concepts of professional competence and competence-based approach to learning. According to the author, every teacher should have clear ideas about the social role of his profession, interest in the child as an object of activity, be able to understand his needs and age characteristics, possess pedagogical observation, pedagogy of cooperation and tact, organizational abilities, have stable spiritual, cognitive interests, be honest, principled, modest, sociable and he must clearly understand that communicative, speech, and information competencies are one of the important components of a specialist's professional competence. Russian language teacher should: comprehensively know his subject, understand the role of language as a foreign language in the life of society, know the theory of general linguistics, the theory of speech, all branches of the theory of the Russian language, be philologically educated, constantly monitor the novelties of science and literature in his field, cultural life To own culture speech: to have the skills of free expression of one's thoughts in oral and written forms, to master the language norm (orthoepy, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, etc.), expressive reading, intonation. Possess all the skills and abilities that are mandatory for students at a high level.