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PECULIARITIES OF TRAINING OF PRESCHOOL IN UKRAINE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The article analyzes the peculiarities of training preschool personnel in Ukraine in the early twentieth century. It is found that the training of personnel in the studied period was carried out by: Froebel Pedagogical Institute (Kyiv), general education courses for public teachers, six-week courses in preschool upbringing, evening courses in out-of-school education, and others.
Keywords: training, features, preschool personnel, Ukraine.

Larina I. O.
Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor,
H. S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Shevchenko N. O.
Associate Professor of the Department of Theory, Technologies and Methods of Preschool Education,
H. S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

10.34142//2708-4809.SIUTY.2022.199

An analysis of scientific and pedagogical works allows us to state that in the early twentieth century, preschool personnel were trained in pedagogical courses that were specially opened for preschool workers, libraries were created, special pedagogical collections for educators and teachers were published, etc.

During the 1880s and 1890s, a state system of social care for preschool children in general and orphans in particular was intensively created under the leadership of the Empress Maria’s Institutions Department.

According to the study, pedagogical societies, such as the Kyiv Society of People’s Kindergartens and the Froebel Pedagogical Society, played a significant role in the training of preschool personnel in Ukraine.

Due to the rapid development of capitalism and the involvement of women in the industrial sector, the demand for so-called “Froebelians” has increased significantly.

In general, the issue of the need, content, and peculiarities of preschool education was repeatedly raised at the first and second congresses on public education during this period.

A great contribution to the development of the issues under study was made by the Froebel Pedagogical Institute, which was founded by the Pedagogical Society in 1907 in Kyiv.

Thanks to the fruitful activities of this pedagogical institute, a lot of new things were done to develop the content and methods of training preschool teachers. The Froebel Pedagogical Institute actively and critically studied the experience of foreign colleagues, in particular, the experience of German seminaries for teacher training. Unlike their German colleagues, who prioritized children’s games in the training of preschool teachers, the staff of the pedagogical institute focused on the study of the child and the peculiarities of his or her development.

The training of preschool personnel was also associated with the opening in 1911 and the permanent functioning of general education courses for public teachers at the institute [3].

In the spring of 1915, the Froebel Pedagogical Institute and the Pedagogical Society had already opened six-week courses in preschool education. These courses trained teachers in the evening. In 1916, the same institute began offering evening courses for women and men, which provided them with out-of-school education.

The activities of these institutions were aimed at raising the professional status of preschool personnel and encouraging them to obtain pedagogical education [2].

The generalization of scientific and pedagogical data leads to the conclusion that during the 17-39 years of the twentieth century, the government of Ukraine began to create an extensive system of educational institutions.

At the Second All-Ukrainian Meeting on Education (1920), a system of teacher education was developed, which provided for the creation of a network of pedagogical educational institutions [1]. This network included institutes of public education whose social education faculties trained professional social workers who were able to implement a clear system of social education proposed by the Ukrainian People’s Commissariat of Education in its entirety, covering the entire “social education” childhood.

It should also be noted that until the end of 1921, the main type of preschool education institution was a kindergarten with continuous operation and children staying there for long periods of time-7, 9, and 12 hours-depending on the working conditions of the mothers. The vast majority of kindergartens were funded by the state, and some were financed by enterprises and business organizations.

Along with kindergartens, other forms of public preschool education were also active. These included summer and winter playgrounds for children, preschool groups, and children’s rooms that worked in the evening and were set up at literacy centers at clubs. Kindergartens and seasonal playgrounds for children in rural areas began operating.

A significant contribution to the development of preschool education in general and the training of preschool personnel in particular was made by the All-Ukrainian Meeting of Heads of Provincial Departments of Social Education (1924), which advised to take control of the system of preschool education on the ground, to strengthen propaganda among the population regarding the opening of preschool education institutions, which contributed to the expansion of the network of preschool education institutions and the emergence of an urgent need to significantly increase the number of preschool workers.

The development of the first draft of the kindergarten program in 1932 was of great importance for the professional training of preschool personnel.

The compilers of the program clearly took into account the age characteristics of children, but, unfortunately, they failed to prevent a certain overload of preschool children with cognitive material.

Government resolutions adopted at the time were of great importance in determining the content of preschool teacher training. In particular, the Resolution “On Measures to Organize the Work of Kindergartens” (1935) established a 9-hour working time for kindergartens. If necessary, it was advised to extend the opening hours of kindergartens to 14-15 hours and to introduce round-the-clock services for preschoolers if the working conditions of mothers required it.

In 1936, kindergartens for the first time began to organize New Year’s celebrations with the installation of a Christmas tree, which caused a lot of joy and positive emotions among their pupils. All of these innovations required the improvement of the professional training of preschool teachers, as any changes in the educational process contribute to the need for continuous development of teachers’ professional qualities. Thus, the preschool education system saw the emergence of educators who worked with parents and the public, possessed high professional skills, constantly cared about improving their ideological, political and theoretical levels, and actively participated in public activities.

In order to effectively organize methodological work, summarize and widely implement the experience of the best kindergartens, methodological rooms began to open in 1932. By the beginning of 1937, such rooms were operating in many regions of Ukraine, with a total of about 200. The study and further dissemination of best pedagogical practices became one of the ways to develop the theory and practice of preschool teachers’ training and their self-improvement.

A certain impetus for further improvement of the content of preschool personnel training was provided by the statute and programmatic and methodological recommendations developed in 1938 under the general title “Guidelines for Kindergarten Teachers”. The best educators, methodologists and scientists were involved in the development of these documents. In accordance with the Statute, the head of the kindergarten and teachers were required to receive special pedagogical education.

A special role in the training of preschool workers in the early twentieth century was played by courses to train specialists for collective farm preschools. To this end, a special commission was set up in Ukraine, consisting of representatives of the departments of education, health, and agriculture.

This commission approved the plan for training managers and educators, determined the need for these personnel, and approved the personal composition of the course participants.

Thus, preschool personnel were trained in Ukraine in the early twentieth century: Froebel Pedagogical Institute, general education courses for public teachers, six-week courses in preschool education, evening courses in out-of-school education for men and women, courses to train specialists for collective farm preschools, and others.

List of references

1. Second All-Ukrainian Conference on Teacher Education. The way of education. 1923. № 7-8. P. 212.
2. Kyiv Society of People’s Kindergartens as a Hotbed of Preschool Education Ideas (1907-1917). Preschool education. 1917. № 1-2.
3. Courses on preschool education. Preschool education. 1914. № 9. 5 p.