The problem of the formation of communicative competence is relevant for specialists of any profile. This competence is one of the key competences of a modern professional. Studies carried out by different authors have shown that communicative competence of the teacher influences on the success of training and education of pupils, the formation of communicative competence pupils, satisfaction and success of the performance of professional tasks. However, the communicative competence of preschool teachers remains insufficiently studied. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to analyze scientific ideas about the structure of the communicative competence of teachers of preschool study. The main approaches to the conceptualization of this communicative competence are considered: linguistic and socio-psychological. The authors point out that for teachers of preschool study the most relevant is the socio-psychological approach to understanding communicative competence. They consider different models of the structure and criteria of communicative competence in interpersonal communication. These models are based on ideas of situational, activity and socio-psychological approaches. The authors propose their six-component model of communicative competence, including gnoseological, practical, pragmatic, discursive, linguistic and sociocultural components. It can serve as a starting point for research into the communicative competence of preschool teachers. On the basis of it is possible to describe criteria for measuring communicative competence and to select the necessary methods of research.