Primary Education in Ukraine. History and European Priorities

The article briefly discusses the main models of providing primary education in the leading countries of Europe, in particular, the organization of the educational process. Against their background and as a result of historical consideration (the long experience of the totalitarian regime), it is shown how post-Soviet Ukraine reached its transitional system of primary education. The international value of the article lies in the demonstration of the historical totalitarian influence on primary education in comparison with the countries of ancient democracies. The article may be of interest to educational historians, specialists in comparative pedagogy, etc. Goals as a determining component in the system of primary education were formed under the influence of state educational policy, the needs of society, school practice, research in the field of primary education. The invariant goals of primary education in the chosen chronological framework remained the all-round development of children of primary school age; upbringing of high moral qualities in them, the development of their mental and physical abilities, in accordance with the prevailing social and political system, acquired a communist or national connotation. It is proved that Ukrainian primary education is still at the initial stage of borrowing pan-European value and methodological systems.