In the article the content and specifics of students’ work with Ukrainian historical dictionaries in the context of the educational paradigm of future lecturers of the Ukrainian language are clarified. This topic is covered in the context of the analysis of educational and professional programs developed and implemented in the educational process by the lecturers of the Department of Ukrainian Philology of Khmelnytsky National University. The presentation of theoretical positions in diachronic linguistics should be based on illustrative material of historical dictionaries of the Ukrainian language, which should be presented with the help of computer technology available to all participants in the educational process. It is necessary to involve both vocabulary material of academic lexicography and the latest developments of linguists. To acquire lexicographic skills, students solve cognitive, training, creative research tasks on the origin of words, development of lexical meaning of language units, foreign language parallels for borrowed tokens, grammatical characteristics of nouns, phonetic, graphic, spelling variability of words, chronology of their functioning, norms of the modern Ukrainian language, etc. It is expedient to carry out a comparative analysis of lexicographical publications of historical and linguistic courses, paying attention to the peculiarities of the description of language material, selection of source base, construction of dictionary articles, etc. When performing lexical, etymological, grammatical, stylistic exercises, future lecturers are aware of the need to refer to the dictionary. Skills in managing the acquired lexicographic knowledge are necessary to prepare students for research activities. Students perform creative and exploratory tasks that allow them to recognize, systematize, analyze, compare various phenomena and facts reflected in lexicographic sources, comment and evaluate them according to the topic and purpose of the study. Important factors in improving the effectiveness of such activities may be the participation of students in scientific problem groups, circles, participation in scientific conferences, preparation and publication of scientific articles, etc. We consider the creation of electronic dictionaries of various directions to be a promising direction of modern and historical lexicography.