CONFERENCE
Ways of implementation of citizenship education in Ukraine

In the conditions of democratisation of contemporary education a search for the ways to improve the content of teaching-learning process, to give it a modern European character becomes quite natural. One of the courses called to modernise contemporary school is Citizenship Education. This is a comparatively new direction in social science disciplines. Citizenship education is a complex of integrated knowledge, skills and attitudes which initiate the formation of an active citizen. The very combination of deep knowledge and practical application makes this course fundamentally different from other disciplines, for it enables pupils to solve social problems simulated at the lesson, to realise themselves in different situations. However, citizenship education at school is not just a separate subject, it is a whole complex of measures targeted at the formation of a citizen capable to take a decision and to influence the societal life.

The scientific conference "Ways of implementation of citizenship education in Ukraine" (Kyiv, 16 March 2001) was dedicated to the problems of development and formation of the scientific-methodological basis for the new trend in educational practice. It was held under the patronage of the Main Department for Content of Education at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and the Kyiv Centre for Civic Education of the Central In-Service Teacher Training Institute of the Academy of Pedagogical Science (APS) of Ukraine. Specialists who took part in the conference have significant scientific and practical achievements in the realisation of citizenship education ideas.

An important factor was the participation in the conference of representatives from higher state and educational bodies. Mykola Berizko, general consultant for the director of the Department for Humanitarian Policy of the President Administration of Ukraine, addressed his greetings to the participants. Pavlo Polyanski, director of the Main Department for Content of Education at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, delivered a report in which he emphasised the peculiarities of citizenship education and pupils' upbringing in the process of current Ukrainian school reform.

To develop a qualitatively new educational system, it is necessary to give priority to the content and methods that form a world outlook, cultural values, skills of independent learning and critical thinking, ability of individual's self-estimation and self-realisation. Citizenship education and upbringing set exactly this task. Pavlo Polyanski also stressed the necessity to take into account the national context while developing and implementing the policy of citizenship education. In terms of the latter, the participants were informed about some changes in school curriculum, namely about introduction of the course "Ukraine and I" in primary school, and the course "Individual and Society" in secondary school.

As we can see, such an active, interested position of the administration takes the conference out of a theoretical sphere into a sphere of realisation of its ideas at school.

The next speaker was academician Olha Sukhomlynska, head of the Department for Theory and History of Pedagogy at APS of Ukraine. In her report she described the state of citizenship education in Ukraine in the context of pedagogical science, analysed all the existing frameworks for citizenship education and upbringing emphasising their trend differences as a positive phenomenon. Olha Sukhomlynska stressed the need to provide as soon as possible the scientific-methodological support for the principles and content of citizenship education determined in the frameworks, to unite efforts of different teams of educators, NGOs, individual scholars and teachers for a more effective and scientifically grounded implementation of their substantial achievements in the field. At the end of her speech, Sukhomlynska emphasised the importance of creating a democratic atmosphere at schools and homes aiming at developing such qualities of an individual as discretion, tolerance, respect for the opinions of others without which even a well-organised citizenship education loses its sense. In this connection, a lot is expected from the reform of secondary school, which is going on in Ukraine.

The speech of the guest from Russia Pyotr Polozhevets, editor-in-chief of the Uchitelskaya Gazeta (Teachers' newspaper) and the Grazhdanovedeniy (Civic education), was of great interest. He told the conference participants about the federal and regional models of citizenship education in Russia, particularly:

• subject-theme model;
• institutional;
• problem-setting;
• interdisciplinary;
• "dominoes".

Speech by Volodymyr Horbatenko, Professor of the Department for Political Science and Sociology at the National M.Dragomanov Pedagogical University, was dedicated to the role of citizenship education in the process of society humanisation. In the scholar's opinion, citizenship education as a factor for society humanisation promotes a vital necessity of democracy for individual, makes it irreversible. Its objective is not only to form the individual that understands social tasks, but also to strengthen his/her civic position, to meet his/her demand to be heard and be of use for the society. Volodymyr Horbatenko spoke about the content orientations of citizenship education, which are:

• to strengthen pupils' orientation at competence as a basic value of the national social development;
• to approach citizenship education not as a complex of new knowledge, but as a specific "moral goal";
• to make citizenship education practice-oriented;
• to develop the culture of choice, the skill to achieve agreement, to abstain from negative interpretation of other cultures' traditions;
• to develop the awareness of the results of people's activity in the past and the present;
• to form principles and criteria of humanism - kindness, individual's freedom, equality, justice, tolerance;
• to overcome a westernised ideology and orientation at the low quality patterns of mass culture and anti-culture.

Civic education at school is an area which is not clearly determined by the curriculum. It is explained by its cross-curricular character and the fact that it aims not only at transferring knowledge, but also at forming pupils' values and behaviour. This is not only the result of the school activity, but also the activity of family, community, peer groups who are under a constant influence of mass media, political, cultural and social climate of society. Every country interprets school's role in civic education in its own way. Therefore, of great interest are comparative studies of civic education at school in different countries. Dr. Bruno Losito from the National Institute for Evaluation of the School System (CEDE, Italy) told about one of the largest of them - a study by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

The main problems of the comparative analysis were:

• objectives pursued by school in the field of civic education;
• contents of civic education curricula;
• subjects the most closely linked with civic education;
• teaching methods;
• academic background of the civic education teachers.

As a concluding remark for the conference can be used a quotation from Volodymyr Horbatenko's speech that "the most important mission of citizenship education must be openness of society and an individual for constructive changes, confidence in the future, as well as awareness of the world experience in implementing citizenship education, and its integral combination with the national cultural-historical tradition. And, at last, the main thing to rememeber while implementing citizenship education in Ukraine is that systems do not change themselves, they are changed by people".

Yulia Maliyenko
Department of History and Social Disciplines, school "Troyeshchina"

Complete texts of the speeches will be placed on the project's web site: www.edu-democracy.org.ua

announcements/news project activities newsletter		about the project resources who we are		partners links e-mail us

This web page is hosted free of charge through the Internet Access and Training Program (IATP). IATP is funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and administered by the International Research & Exchanges Board.