Formation and development of democratic education in Ukrainian socio-pedagogical thought (second half of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century)

Abstract

The article aims to substantiate the formation and development of democratic education in Ukrainian socio-pedagogical thought from the second half of the twentieth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century as a historically conditioned process of changing educational values, views on the learner’s personality, civic responsibility and democratic culture. Methods. The research is based on historical-pedagogical analysis, systematization of recent scientific publications, comparative interpretation of educational transformations, and generalization of normative and value foundations of civic and democratic education. Results. The study shows that in the second half of the twentieth century democratic educational ideas were not articulated as an independent concept within the official educational discourse, but they were indirectly manifested through the humanistic orientation of pedagogy, attention to the dignity of the child, moral development, collective interaction and the educational potential of the school environment. After the restoration of Ukraine’s independence, democratic education gradually acquired the features of a distinct direction of educational policy and pedagogical practice: from depoliticization and humanization of schooling in the 1990s to a competence-based, civic and value-oriented model of education in the early twenty-first century. The article argues that contemporary democratic education combines human rights, participation, responsibility, academic freedom, partnership, student self-government, critical thinking, media literacy and the ability to act responsibly within a community. Conclusions. Democratic education in Ukrainian socio-pedagogical thought has evolved from implicit humanistic premises to a systemic pedagogical idea that determines the content of civic socialization and functions as a factor of resilience of Ukrainian society under current challenges.