Methodology of Ukrainian for Professional Purposes as a branch of Ukrainian language didactics

The relevance of the topic of the article is determined by the necessity of studying the objective preconditions for the establishment and development of the methodology of teaching Ukrainian for Professional Purposes as a new branch of linguodidactics and creation of a holistic scientific and methodological system of teaching the course at pedagogical institutions of higher education. The work aims to figure out the essence of the “methodology of teaching Ukrainian for Professional Purposes” concept, the specificity of formation of this branch of linguodidactics, its interscientific bases, process structure, and regularities of historical development. The methodological basis of the research consists of the comparative, retrospective, systemic and chronological approaches. A set of methods has been used during the study: reflexive and comparative analysis, visualisation, mathematical and statistical processing, generalisation. The article determines five fundamental scientific platforms that ensure the theoretical and methodological content of the branch of linguodidactics: the platforms of linguistics, documentation science, scientific research, psychology, professional pedagogy. The fact that the development of the methodology of teaching Ukrainian for Professional Purposes as a new branch of linguodidactics requires synthesis of theoretical and applied aspects for the formulation of initial statements and conduction of independent scientific and methodological research into this sphere, which, in its turn, has a reverse impact on the practice of teaching Ukrainian for Professional Purposes, has been emphasized. The study of the historical past, particularly the period of the emergence of the educational course, has shown that the formation of the methodology of teaching this discipline as a branch of Ukrainian linguodidactics had been taking place according to the requirements of the time and based on the practical experience of teaching. Based on studying the dynamics of the scientific interest in the methodology of teaching Ukrainian for Professional Purposes between 1994 and 2020, a low level of consideration of the methodological aspects of teaching the course in scientific publications has been determined (10 %) and acknowledged as insufficient for the development of a holistic scientific and methodological system of teaching the discipline at pedagogical institutions of higher education.

Psychological features of studying a foreign language for professional purposes

The article considers the issue of taking into account the psychological characteristics of students in the study of a foreign language for professional purposes. It was analyzed the methodological aspects of taking into account psychological features in teaching a foreign language. Emphasis is placed on the need and importance of taking into account the psychological characteristics of students in the process of learning a foreign language for professional purposes. The main psychological factors of learning a foreign language are identified. Among the main psychological factors are: motivation and interest in language learning, temperament, memory, ability to learn languages, language barrier. Motivation is a major factor in language learning. Only the motivation to succeed can bring results in language learning. Psychological comfort in the classroom is a way to realize their importance in society, trying to get the most information for successful self-development. Under the condition of complete psychological comfort, the intensive development of mental processes and imagination, the improvement of memory, and the ability to communicate begin. Activating memorization processes also plays an important role in foreign language learning. The human brain is a complex mechanism and the main indicator of its efficiency is attention. If attention is reduced, a person can hardly concentrate. The article states that the success of learning a foreign language is determined by a combination of factors: motivational, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, psychophysiological and interactive. This means that the psychological aspects of learning a foreign language determine not only the goals and objectives of teaching, motivation, interest of students, but also the methods and approaches to learning. Emphasis is placed on the need to constantly search for new opportunities and ways to form and improve methods of learning a foreign language for professional purposes. The leading idea of the article is that taking into account the psychological, pedagogical and individual characteristics of students in the study of a foreign language for professional purposes allows to introduce new technologies into the educational process, increase learning efficiency, develop language skills and competencies, develop creative abilities, increase independent and extracurricular activities.

Evaluation of the activity of scientific and pedagogical staff: domestic experience and vectors of development under the university autonomy

The article reveals the evaluation of the activities carried out by scientific and pedagogical staff in domestic higher education institutions from a process point of view and the standpoint of the result. The main types of assessment used in higher education institutions are described. The results obtained during the analysis of scientific publications, normative documents and questionnaires of teachers and managers confirmed the massive rating of the activities of scientific and pedagogical workers, its superiority among other types of assessment. According to the materials available in the open Internet access, a comparative analysis of the rating policy of 20 higher education institutions, located in different regions of Ukraine, was carried out. It was found that in each university the determinant of the rating policy is Development Strategy, according to which the evaluation of research and teaching staff is positioned as an important procedure for internal quality assurance of higher education and a factor in stimulating professional development of teachers. Based on a comparative analysis of the regulatory framework, criteria, indicators and evaluation procedures inherent in different institutions of higher education, common features and characteristics of rating evaluation of research and teaching staff. The personal and institutional dimensions of the significance of various evaluation of the activity of scientific and pedagogical workers are revealed. Emphasis is placed on modern indicators and problematic evaluation issues identified in the process of studying domestic practices. Insufficient use of information collected through rating assessment for prognostic purposes is emphasized. The tendency of updating criteria and indicators of a rating estimation of activities carried out by scientific and pedagogical workers of universities is established. An objective relationship between the establishment of coefficients for the rating of the main types of professional activities of research and teaching staff (educational, scientific, methodological, organizational and educational) and the priority of the holding activities for the university at the time of the rating.

Increasing the Research Capacity of Universities in Ukraine: Problems, Value Dimensions and the Way of Democratization

There are certain obstacles to the development of the research capacity of Ukrainian universities, which can be classified as belonging to one of the two groups: «external» and «internal». If the former include more obvious things like insufficient funding for national science and higher education, as well as the imbalance of teaching and research activities of the academic staff, the latter relate to the values, interests and motivations of the researchers. It is argued that a possible way to overcome the first type of obstacles is to rethink the role of the university teacher, who from a translator of knowledge becomes a mediator helping students to acquire the ability for life-long self-education and the constant creation of own knowledge. The competition to traditional universities presented by non-formal education emphasizes the benefits of the individual approach and personal communication between teachers and students and the special value of the personal knowledge as a result of own research. The article argues that in the absence of internal motivation for scientific research and a tendency to recognize the principles of scientific ethos, the attempt to «force» creativity leads only to the profanation of scientific activity, in particular to mass violations of academic integrity by students. Really effective research can be based only on the moral imperative of each human person as an autonomous subject of values and responsibility, and the most important factor in the development of university science is the democratization of higher education, which returns to the humanistic ideal of the Enlightenment that considers each person as capable of creative and independent thinking. Such democratization contributes to the implementation of lifelong learning and effective activities of university graduates in a volatile and complex world, and also corresponds to the ideas of the open science concept as one of the most important ways for increasing the research capacity of Ukrainian universities.

A Discourse on the Contemporary Relevance of the Educational Underpinning of Plato’s Political Philosophy

The journey towards social ordering and the need to make life much better than it used to be is one of the principal motivations for political philosophy. Hence, there are as much political theories to this effect as there are political philosophers and scientists. Whereas the aim of the present research is to consider what kind of political theory can assist in social ordering, it does this, taking cognizance of the pedagogical postulates of the political scholar, Plato. In other words, this research reconsiders the educational underpinning of Plato’s political philosophy for use in the quest toward the agenda of attaining nationhood in Nigeria. This comes as a consequence of the urgency to correct the ugly trend(s) that have greeted the educational system of the country as well as the failure of the social sciences to provide the much sought succor. This approach is sacrosanct because of the undue but accentuated emphases that have been given to the social sciences as the domain from which development and nationhood can spring. Incidentally, the journey toward nationhood for Nigeria, continues to be one of the most disturbing dilemmas that continues to haunt the country. Via the method of critical analysis, this essay argues that Plato’s political philosophy has some educational ideals that present implications for contemporaneous nature or character of contemporary Nigeria. By giving emphasis on his reflections on the principle of specialization, this study is able to argue that the spirited application of this ideal for contemporary Nigeria via pedagogy will go a long way to birth the much sought nationhood. Political philosophy needs pedagogy to be able to realize its ideals. Unless this initiative is underscored, this essay submits, the quest for nationhood will continue to lament in the labyrinth of folly and backwardness.

Development of university research potential as the basis of competitive quality of higher education in the United States: experience for Ukraine

The development of University research potential (URP) in the USA during 1950-2020 in view of achieving competitive quality of higher education is analysed in the article. The national deterministic context and components of this potential by the types of activity (educational, research) and by the resources (personnel, financial, organizational) as well as component impact on the highest excellence quality of education (according to the criteria of the Academic Ranking of World Universities, ARWU) are identified. It is proved that the context of URP development is dichotomous and consists of national spheres of education and research. This assertion corresponds to the duality of higher education (as an integrated intersection of education and research) and the composition and structure of higher education mission (list of interrelated keywords and the order of their priority: education, research, creativity / innovation). It is substantiated that URP is first actualized within study programmes of the highest level of complexity (Master's, PhD and Postdoctoral), research activity of academic staff (especially professors) and research organizations associated with Universities (institutes, centres, laboratories, clinics). This reasoning conforms to the concept and criteria for research and doctoral Universities in line with the Carnegie Classification. These components are integrated into the educational process to varying degrees, so they have a different impact on the quality of education. For the first 30 top US Universities, there is no probable correlation between ranking achievements and the amount of research and developments (R&D) funding as well as the number of researchers in institutions. Instead, such correlation is strong for the number of Postdoctorates in an institution. In general, there is a steady trend of downward in the share of the higher education sector within R&D performance in the US that amounted to 12.0 % in 2019. Although scale of higher education sector share is still growing quantitatively and is the basis for modernizing education content. At the same time, Master's, PhD and Postdoctoral programmes are spreading at a significant pace. In the 1959/60 academic year, the ratio of the number of awarded Bachelor's, Master's and PhD degrees was 1 : 27 : 7.5, in 2018/19 – 1 : 41 : 9.3 under multiple times increased graduation. Between 1979 and 2019, the number of Postdoctorates increased 3.7 times. Salaries of academic staff, especially professors, are increased, academic staff workload is minimized and subject-oriented, a system of permanent employment is proposed, and a modern educational, research, and information infrastructure is created for effective research and research-based education activity. The national context of the development of URP is stably favourable given the increase in the share of GDP for the funding of education institutions in general, higher education institutions in particular, and R&D especially. The corresponding expenditures reached 7.1 %, 3.0 % and 3.1 % GDP and are the largest ones quantitatively in the world. Purposeful and consolidated (federal, business, university, public) support for education and R&D has been and is provided in critical periods of the country's competitive struggle for leadership in an innovatively progressive world. The state of these spheres, in particular higher education, and URP, is systematically examined. The decades of the 1960s of the last century and the twenties of the present century are significant. In the 1960s, the share of GDP for the higher education institutions funding was doubled, the number of awarded Master's degrees was increased almost tripled, and the award of PhD degrees was increased six times to overcome the threat of educational and scientific backwardness. R&D funding reached 2.8 % of GDP, of which 1.9 % came from the federal budget. Funding for Universities’ R&D has increased 3.6 times. The super-powerful public University of California, San Diego (1960), 9 other world-class Universities, and 6 subworld-class Universities according to the ARWU, the National Academy of Engineering (1964), and the National Academy of Education (1965) were established. The characteristics of state, monitoring and development policy of the URP and educational and research context in the US is a guideline for the improvement of Ukrainian Universities.

Obafemi Awolowo’s Philosophy of Education and its Importance for Postcolonial Development in Africa

Needless but irrelevant attention has been given to the forms of educational curriculum and syllabuses that were given to African colonies by their administrators, as the most plausible route for the emergence of competent and upright minds that will occupy posterity to initiate and activate their development. There is hardly any part of Africa that is not a recipient of this unenviable colonial legacy. This is the case for Nigeria, a country that was a former colony of Britain. In 21st century Nigeria however, this admission no longer seems plausible perhaps owing to the upsurge in corruption, ethnicity, nepotism, lack of implementation of good policies, to name a few. Granted, these worrisome situations are not limited to Nigeria, they have served as the motivation for the emphasis to using indigenous ideals for pedagogy. The present research deduces its aim from this call, via the method of philosophical analysis to an aspect of Obafemi Awolowo’s philosophy which has been given minimal attention – his thoughts on education. Assuming the method of philosophical analysis, this study argues for the contemporary relevance of Awolowo’s pedagogy for Nigeria which could also be applicable in places that face challenges similar to Nigeria’s. It agrees with Awolowo that the intellectual enormity of the people is most important because when a person is educated, his mind and body would be developed and transformed; hence such a person would approach issues correctly, rightly and timely. These unfortunately are qualities that are on the downswing in recent times. The entire gauge of this research is therefore aimed at unpacking this philosophy with recommendations for application. It is the fervent conviction of this study that assuming Awolowo’s proposals, there are indigenous African legacies that may assist in charting the right course for the continent’s humans and educational developments.

The ways of the realization of gender-based education in the learning process in higher educational establishments

The article reveals the problem of gender-oriented education in higher education. The author notes that it is important not only to change the forms, methods and means of learning in modern conditions but also the concept of forming a modern specialist who has to train, in addition to professional knowledge, skills and abilities - interpersonal and soft skills because society is gradually moving away from the individualistic type and focuses on teamwork and cooperation at all levels. Among the gender problems in Ukraine such as gender inequality at different levels of education, the presence of elements of gender discrimination in the content of academic disciplines and its reflection in the educational and methodological literature; gender relations in the teaching staff, teaching style and pedagogical communication; speech/language sexism, etc. are identified. The survey proved the need to use a gender-sensitive approach in the educational process, showed some differences in learning between boys and girls and confirmed the importance of taking into account the psychological and physiological differences between girls and boys in the educational process. The author presents ways to implement this approach in higher education, which will contribute to the comprehensive coverage of all areas of work - teaching, methodological and educational - which will contribute to the creation of a gender-sensitive educational environment. Various directions of the introduction of gender education as a component of national, moral, family, legal, mental, labour are offered; emphasis is placed on the necessity to include gender topics in lectures, practical classes, term papers and master's theses; cooperation of educators and public organizations; formation of gender culture of the teacher, propaganda of gender education. The results of an experimental study are presented, the statistical data of which indicate the need to implement this type of education for more effective organization of the educational process in higher education, humanization and democratization of education.

Scientific and methodological approaches to the study of pedagogical personality

The article presents a synthesized analysis of scientific and methodological approaches to the study of pedagogical personalities - famous teachers, scholars, public figures who have made a significant contribution to the development of education and pedagogical science of Ukraine and the world. The essence of scientific and methodological approaches is characterized according to their division into two main conditional groups: «traditional» that were used in historical and pedagogical studies in the second half of the XX century (historical and logical; semantic and formal; personal and active; quantitative and qualitative; culturological and its varieties, etc.) and «innovative» , which began to be actively used as a research tool in the late 1990s (anthropological, axiological, phenomenological, hermeneutic, intellectual and biographical, paradigmatic, synergetic, etc.). The peculiarities and difficulties of using scientific and methodological approaches to the study of pedagogical personality are clarified. They are connected to the fact that, first, this issue is mainly considered in the context of the study of individual biographies, which determines the brevity, abstractness of its understanding or does not take into account the specifics of biographical studies. Secondly, due to the «multi-layered» methodology of pedagogical science and the subjective reflections of scholars, there is an arbitrary interpretation and use of these methodological approaches. Third, in specific biographical studies, scientists operate with a relatively narrow range of methodological approaches, which limits the cognitive possibilities and general research results.

Evaluation of the quality of education programs in sports (based on the results of accreditation of study programmes)

The article presents an analysis of the decisions of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance on the accreditation of educational programs of the following specialities: 017 Physical Culture and Sports, 014 Secondary Education (Physical Culture, Human Health). Considering the significant differences between the previous accreditation procedure carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (until 2019) and the current accreditation procedure carried out by the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance the analysis of accreditation cases is particularly relevant. In the course of the research, the analysis of accreditation cases that took place in the period from November 2019 to November 2020 was carried out. It included the assessment of educational programs, curricula, self-assessment documents, reports of the expert groups, conclusions of branch expert council and decisions of the National Agency. Generalized data on the evaluation of educational programs according to individual criteria is presented. The article presents an analysis of the main shortcomings identified in the process of assessing the quality of educational programs at the stage of field accreditation procedure and, at the stage of assessment of the accreditation case by the branch expert council of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance. It is shown that the main reason for the decision of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance on conditional (deferred) accreditation of the educational programs was the presence of significant shortcomings in the structure and content of educational programs, as well as in the processes related to teaching and learning. It was also shown that only half of the educational programs in the field of sports, which passed the accreditation procedure in the period from November 2019 to November 2020 met the requirements for ensuring the quality of the educational process. This indicates that the internal quality assurance systems of Ukrainian higher educational institutions were not ready for the new requirements set by the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance.