Yershova O.P., Ph.D.

Kyiv National University for Technologies and Design

Ukrainian Educational Innovations: Past, Present and Future

Educational paradigm in every country has traces of both centuries-old legacies and innovations reflecting time tendencies entailing harmonious synergy of national traditions and European-world patterns.

Our hypothesis is that integrating into European educational community we are to preserve our national identity treasured over the times.

To successfully implement innovations in educational system in Ukraine as well as anticipate their perspectives, we should trace the historical connotations of the process in the past.

Moreover history of education in Ukraine should be pictured in historical and cultural context.

The idea of higher education in Ukraine underwent some changes due to the “statecraft factor”, “the borderline culture”, “incomplete nationhood” which retarded its emergence. At the same time striving for national identity precipitated the establishment of the first HE institution in Ukraine in the 17 ^th century. This striving was an impetus for the revival of national higher education in the 20th century.

Out of many factors that have had impact on the development of education in Ukraine on the whole and idea of higher education in particular, I would point out three: “the statecraft factor”, “the borderline culture” ,“ incomplete nationhood”.

Each of them was more or less important at certain periods of Ukrainian educational paradigm development.

I. The first “statecraft factor” implies the fact that Ukrainian nationality, its culture and education have lived for centuries without a national state and have come under the influence of various organized states, i . e. Byzantine, Polish, Russian.

II. The second factor “borderline culture” means the following: “For many years starting with the 15 ^th Ukraine’s culture was osciliating between two opposing cultural spheres that emerged in Europe in the 11 ^th century – the Western-Catholic-Roman and the Eastern-Orthodox-Byzantine.

III. “Incomplete nation”. This concept emerged with the replacement of the concept of a complete Ukrainian state.

Thus the whole history of higher education in Ukraine was marked by two tendencies: striving for national identity and imitating world educational models. Today out of these two tendencies the ‘imitating’ one is taking the upper hand. What about national identity? The prerequisites for integrating Ukraine into European and world community are restructuring economy and democratization, core element of which is changes in system of higher education.

The essence of changes to be implemented are associated with European Credit Transfer System. The present-day realities in the field are are traced on the case study of Cherkassy School for Market, Information and Innovation Technologies of Kyiv National University for Technologies and Design.

The changes can not be implemented overnight. They are to be motivated, conceptualized, initiated and monitored. To make the process effective we organized a series of workshops and training for the Faculty to equip them with necessary new assessment techniques, paper processing, material and syllabi design. The preliminary as well as current monitoring highlighted the following present-day realities: both positive and negative.

Positive realities seem to be:

· more effective student assessment;

· student performance progress as the result of student striving for upgrading their rating level benchmark;

· the option not to sit for exams and thus enjoy more recreation time;

· students motivated to regularly attend classes;

· well-balanced – training load during academic term;

· stronger academic Professor-Student relations;

The impediments are likely to be:

· mental resistance to more personalized training system on the part of the participants;

· low adaptivity level to new student by both Faculty and Student, Body who lack preliminary experience;

· the extension of paper processing load for the Faculty within his fixed academic load;

The perspectives of national education on its way into European educational community are the resistance fading away, their more flexible adaptivity and as a result a harmonious synergy of European models and national traditions.

The assessment and paper processing changes in higher education should not encroach on our best achievements in the education and training quality standard, thus serving as warranty of our national identity.

Література :

1. O. Pritsak and S. Reshetar , Jr. “ Ukraine and the Dialects of Nation- Building ”/ From Kievan Rus to Modern Ukraine : Formation of the Ukrainian Nation. – Cambridge , Massachusetts : Ukrainian Fund Harvard University , 1984. – p. 5 – 36.