Teacher Education for Democracy in Post-Soviet Ukraine

Teacher education can enable or impede democratic socialization of prospective teachers through the provision (or not) of knowledge, skills, and values necessary for democratic teaching and effective functioning in democratic society. This dissertation investigates teacher education for democracy in post-Soviet Ukraine. It examines contextual factors that enable and impede teacher education practice for democracy, teacher educators’ conceptions of democracy and citizenship, and their enactment of these concepts in practice, in four universities in western, central, and eastern Ukraine. The study employs a mixed method multiple-case study methodology: case study profiles of four democratically oriented teacher educators, each working at a different university, are contextualized through background interviews, surveys of additional teacher educators, and document analysis. It illuminates political, cultural, and pedagogical dimensions of democratic citizenship education in an ostensibly post-authoritarian context. Survey findings reveal that, despite some changes, teaching approaches remained predominantly transmissional, and most teacher educators did not emphasize the promotion of political and cultural dispositions such as active citizenship, personal responsibility, civic patriotism, or tolerance of other viewpoints, nations, ethnicities, and cultures. Preparation of teacher candidates to function in a democracy was obstructed by multiple societal, institutional, and personal factors. This study demonstrates the value of considering such factors, in order to understand the challenges of implementing education for democracy in non-Western, transforming contexts. Case studies of four exemplary teacher educators shed light on pedagogical and content dimensions of teacher education for democracy that were possible, although by no means typical, in this context. Their pedagogy departed from the dominant reliance on transmissional teaching and steeply hierarchical teacher-student relationships. Their course content promoted citizenship responsibility and a non-fearful mentality instead of paternalism and culture of fear; ethnic, racial, gender, and interregional tolerance instead of ethnocentrism; civically rather than ethnically oriented national pride and patriotism; and student-centered instead of solely teacher-centered pedagogies. The study contributes to comparative international research on education for democracy by providing practical examples of teacher education for democracy in a post-authoritarian context and by showing that Western-based typologies of democratic citizenship education can acquire different meanings, relevance, and significance in transitioning contexts such as Ukraine.Ph.D