Peculiarities of Teacher Professional Development in Ukraine under Implementation of Secondary School Reforms

Abstract:

Society is facing new demands and requests concerning education organization in the 21st century due to global world changes. It needs professional, competitive, and competent youth who are able to adapt quickly in unstable conditions and can choose independently the sphere of activity, self-realization, and self-regulation. The person’s life success is a positive result of the activity, which is reached based on strategy and tactics, the system of moral values, and the motivational sphere. Thus, the need to modernize the educational process is actualized. First of all, it involves a transition from the goal to accumulate knowledge to create systemic competencies among students. At the same time, every structural level of the educational system, including the primary level, is essential. It is explained by the fact that modern school needs primary school teachers who are able to not only enrich students with a set of knowledge and skills stipulated in the program but also ensure the realization of their creative potential based on the person’s development. Besides, they should teach junior students ways to obtain knowledge as well as create conditions for the effective formation of multidimensional consciousness, and the ability of a personality, who is developing, to understand, think, and act. The New Ukrainian School Concept has become the embodiment of modern educational standards. Its main rule is co-operation and mutual understanding. That means the importance of listening to everyone’s opinion, not being afraid to express thoughts, and learning to think critically. However, changes in the educational establishments mostly depend on the level of specialists’ development, who could implement modern educational technology and the most efficient results of pedagogical experience into the practical activity. Under these circumstances, the national educational system has faced the necessity to increase significantly professional competencies of primary school teachers.