Modern trends in teaching foreign literature and integrated course of literatures (Ukrainian and foreign)

Abstract

The aim is to characterize the modern system of literary education in Ukraine in the context of the New Ukrainian School. Ukraine is currently undergoing a reform of secondary education. This reform is called «New Ukrainian School». The reason for the reform was Ukraine’s course towards the European Union. In 2014, Ukraine officially announced this course, and since 2022 Ukraine has become a candidate country for membership in the European Union. In 2018, the Council of Europe prepared general recommendations in the field of education, which guide all EU countries. Ukraine has also adopted these recommendations as a guide to action. That is why we are currently reforming secondary education. The main objective of this reform is to build key competences in the process of studying different disciplines. Education reform in Ukraine is aimed not only at the formation of key competences, but also at expanding the individual trajectory of students and increasing the academic freedom of teachers. In this regard, schools (with the participation of children and parents) can choose which subjects to study, how many hours to plan for them, and what profile the school has. Teachers are also free to choose programs and textbooks. Another aspect of the reform is the introduction of integrated courses alongside individual disciplines. For example, we have two separate subjects – Ukrainian and World Literature, but there is an integrated course of literatures. There are also integrated courses of history, math, science, etc. The Ministry believes that reducing the number of subjects will improve the quality of education. However, this is a highly debated issue.

Ukraine is a democratic country. Its education system is also democratic. Therefore, we have a great variety of curricula and textbooks. The specificity of secondary education in Ukraine is that schools (first of all, teachers) now have the right to choose which programs to work with and which textbooks to teach with.