THE COURSE “THE HISTORY OF THE PRIMARY EDUCATION IN UKRAINE” DURING PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF THE FUTURE DOCTORS OF PHILOSOPHY IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

In the article, the author notes that an introduction of the academic degree “Doctor of Philosophy” (PhD) into the practice of higher education has led to necessity to form the new educational-professional and educational-scientific curricula in accordance with the subject field specifics. In this regard, the question of the Doctors of Philosophy training in various branches of education is actively discussed in Ukrainian scientific world over last three years and today there is already extensive research on this point. In the problematic field of the Doctors of Philosophy in the primary education training, there are also certain achievements (O. Budnyk, L. Gavrilova, T. Zaporozhchenko, L. Koval, O. Komar, A. Kramarenko, I. Palshkova, L. Petukhova, R. Prima, O. Varetska, etc.). However, the item of the necessity to add the course “History of the Primary Education in Ukraine” to their curricula hasn’t become the subject of a separate scientific discussion. At the same time, analyzing educational curricula for the Doctors of Philosophy training in the United States and Great Britain, a lot of scientists have emphasized on the availability of the historical direction courses almost in each of them in the subject field. Taking all this into account, the author substantiates the importance of creating the course “History of the Primary Education in Ukraine”, including it into the curriculum of a PhDs in primary education training and covering the experience of implementing this discipline in the practice of the educational process at the University. The content of the training course, according to the author, should contain two meaning modules: 1) the genesis of a primary school in Ukraine; 2) Ukrainian system of a primary school teacher training. At present, the application of the course “History of the Primary Education in Ukraine” in the practice of PhDs in primary education professional training and an appropriate empirical examining of its importance and effectiveness have begun at the State Higher Educational Establishment “Donbas State Pedagogical University”. The prospects for further research, in the author’s opinion, is to improve the curriculum of discipline by extending its content through comparative analysis with similar processes in educational systems of other countries, as well as determining the optimal list of adjacent courses in the curriculum for training of the Doctors of Philosophy in primary education for interrelated formation of the postgraduate students’ key, integral and specialist competences