The Ministry of Education and Science approved the conceptual principles of reforming historical education in schools

The Ministry of Education and Science approved conceptual principles reforming historical education in schools, including the introduction of a single general history course. The document contains the concept of school history education and defines the purpose, tasks and content of history education, as well as the organization and structure of the history course in schools.

According to updated approaches to the subject, the Ministry of Education and Science emphasized the need to introduce a single general history course, because the history of Ukraine is an integral part of European and world history.

Thus, instead of separate courses “History of Ukraine” and “World History”, it is proposed to introduce a single course “History” (other possible names are “History: Ukraine and the World” or “History of Ukraine and the World”).

According to the conceptual principles, the study of history should be carried out according to the concentric principle, divided into six cycles: introductory and fragmentary in primary school, propaedeutic plot and problem-thematic in basic school, profile-adaptive and profile in high school.

Another important component of updating the study of history in schools is the inclusion of civics subjects directly through historical material.

It is proposed to introduce special history courses for specialized secondary education, such as historical geography, local and regional history, intellectual history, cultural history, history of ethnic and/or religious communities, history and experience of survival/resistance to totalitarian regimes, empires during wars, etc.

For other profiles, special courses related to the history of scientific discoveries, technical inventions, finance and economics, environmental protection, etc. are possible.

The authors of the document believe that the structural elements of subject historical competence (chronological, spatial, informational, logical, axiological) should be formed through intra-branch and inter-branch integration.

In accordance with Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Education”, Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine “On Comprehensive General Secondary Education”, state standards of primary, basic and specialized secondary education, teaching/learning of history should be organized according to the following concentrations:

• The first cycle of primary education is adaptation and play (1-2 years of study). From history — informative and informative (grades 1-2), which offers the most general information about a person, family, community, native region, Ukraine as a state.
• The second cycle of primary education is basic (3-4 years of study). From history — informational and fragmentary (3-4 grades), which in a fictionalized form offers the most important plots of the history of Ukraine, about Ukraine in Europe and in the world.
• The first cycle of basic secondary education is adaptation (5-6 years of study). From history — a propaedeutic plot (5-6 grades), which is based on historical information acquired in primary grades, prepares for the study of a systematic course of history and presents significant plots of the history of Ukraine and the world from ancient times to the present day.
• The second cycle of basic secondary education — basic subject training (7-9 years of study). From history — problem-thematic (grades 7-9), which presents the main events of the history of Ukraine and the world according to historical and cultural periods.
• The first cycle of specialized secondary education is specialized and adaptive (10 years of study) and the second cycle of specialized secondary education is specialized (11-12 years of study). From history — profile problem-thematic (grades 10-12), which presents the history of Ukraine and the world through the main phenomena and processes from ancient times to the present and is implemented through the interaction of a single general education and special (according to the profile) courses.

Also, in the conceptual principles of reforming historical education in the system of general secondary education, it is noted that the competence potential and basic knowledge defined in the State Standard of Basic Secondary Education are based on content lines that provide an opportunity to present the past within any historical time and space with an emphasis on how the relations between man and nature, man and society, man and the world of material things, man and power and the world of ideas and ideas were built.

At the same time, at the current stage and in the near future, the following topics should be relevant content accents in primary education, basic and high school within the general education course of history: “Territorial and demographic changes”, “History of Ukrainian nation-building and state-building”, “European/world contexts of Ukrainian history”, “Identity at different stages of historical development”, “Ecological history”, “Social catastrophes (wars, epidemics, famines, genocides, man-made accidents)”, “Resistance to totalitarian and imperial regimes, resistance to violence and aggression (in particular, in the context Russian-Ukrainian relations), “Cultural and intellectual history”, “Everyday history and micro-history”, “Women’s history”, “History of Ukraine and Ukrainianism in the world, the role and cultural heritage of the Ukrainian diaspora”.