To the origins of social education in Ukraine (the 1920s): humanism or proletarian expediency?

Abstract

The paper analyses the phenomenon of social education (herein after abbr. sotzvykh) in Ukraine in the 1920s as a purpose of Soviet power to change the previous imperial system of education. In general, at that time sotzvykh reflected the aspiration of power for upbringing the new generation of educated proletarians with communist views, but in reality, there were efforts to feed, clothe and provide the elementary medical care to the host of different types of children and teenagers under 15. Until the early 1930s, the sphere of education in Ukraine developed differently than in Russia. The emphasis was placed on the imminent death of the family as a social institution, and therefore the education of children and youth should have become the task of the society. In addition, professionalization of school education was recognized as a priority. The aim of the article is to highlight the first in the world’s education history phenomenon (sotzvykh) – both the pedagogical and social–of organising life of children in the post-war country. The goals and ways of implementation Ukrainian sotzvykh in the context of social, ideological and pedagogical aspects of the time are analysed. It is considered that sotzvykh carried out both political and life-saving pedagogical tasks of protecting the child population. Within the framework of sotzvykh in the conditions of poverty and ruin of the post-revolutionary period the general 7-year school education and elimination of illiteracy were carried out.