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Educational guidelines
Ukraine

Ukraine

4.Early childhood education and care

4.3Educational guidelines

Last update: 7 October 2024

Steering documents

The main regulatory documents that define the peculiarities of the educational process, the life of children in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and the professional activities of educators are as follows:

The educational process in an early childhood education institution (ECEI) is organised in accordance with the Basic component of ECEC (наказ Міністерства освіти і науки України ‘Про затвердження Базового компонента дошкільної освіти’) and the Methodological recommendations for the updated Basic component of ECEC. Educational activities must also be planned according to the Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MESU) on the approval of the maximum permissible study load per child in ECEIs of various types and forms of ownership (наказ Міністерства освіти і науки України ‘Про затвердження гранично допустимого навчального навантаження на дитину у дошкільних навчальних закладах різних типів та форми власності’).This order further approves a sample list of play and educational equipment for ECEIs. It contains a list of game and educational materials necessary to equip the educational process in all age groups of ECEIs where children from birth to six (seven) years of age receive early childhood education. It is important to note that the recommended quantity of different types of play and educational equipment may vary depending on the pedagogical needs of the institution.

As stated in the principles of the Basic component of ECEC, a number of comprehensive educational programmes for the development, education and upbringing of children have been developed and approved by the MESU. These programmes are recommended for use in ECEІs. They are developed by a team of authors, including both scientists and practitioners in the field of early childhood education. Each programme is reviewed and approved in accordance with the Procedure for examination, stamping of educational literature and educational programmes, approved by order of the MESU (наказ Міністерства освіти і науки України ‘Про затвердження Порядку здійснення експертизи, надання грифів навчальній літературі та навчальним програмам’). The integrity of the educational process in ECEC is ensured through the use of comprehensive educational programmes and a number of partial programmes. The partial programmes serve as a basis for organising the institution's activities in specific priority areas and for providing educational services to children through the functioning of creative studios or clubs.

The teaching staff of ECEIs decide independently which comprehensive and partial programmes to use in the educational process. The choice of educational programmes is made by the teaching staff on the basis of parental requests and taking into account their own skills and the results of previous work. In addition, it is allowed to use a combination of comprehensive and partial programmes simultaneously in certain areas of educational work.

Each educational institution has the autonomy to develop its own educational programme. The foundation for its development is the Basic component of ECEC. The pedagogical council of the educational institution, confirmed by its head, approves the educational programme, which must contain the following components: 

  • the total study load and expected learning outcomes for the children;

  • the list, content, duration and combination of educational fields and/or subjects, disciplines, etc., as well as the logical sequence of their study;

  • forms of organisation of the educational process;

  • a description and tools of the internal quality assurance system;

  • other educational components (as decided by the ECEI).

Every year, before the beginning of the academic year, the MESU develops methodological recommendations for the organisation of the educational process in ECEІs, outlining the priority areas of activity for these institutions in the upcoming academic year.

 

 

Areas of learning and development

Early childhood education is provided in accordance with the Basic component of ECEC. This document outlines the requirements for the obligatory competences and educational outcomes for children of early childhood age (six/seven years). It also defines the conditions necessary for achieving these outcomes in line with international standards of educational quality. 

According to the Law on Early Childhood Education and Care, compliance with the requirements of the Basic component of ECEC is obligatory for all ECEІs, regardless of their subordination, type and form of ownership, as well as form of education (including home-based education).

The content of the ECEC consists of compulsory (invariable) and additional (variable) components. 

Compulsory learning and development areas of ECEC include:

  • The child's personality;

  • The child in sensory and cognitive environment;

  • The child in the natural environment;

  • Children's play;

  • The child in society;

  • The child's language;

  • The child in the world of art.

Additional learning and development areas of ECEC include:

  • The child's personality/sports games;

  • The child in sensory and cognitive environment/computer skills;

  • The child's language/literacy basics;

  • The child's language/foreign language;

  • The child in society/social and financial literacy;

  • The child in the world of art/choreography.

 

 

Pedagogical approaches

The content and organisation of the educational process in ECEC are based on a personality-oriented, activity-based and integrated approaches.

The personality-oriented approach involves identifying the basic characteristics of the individual, promoting their involvement in activities, fostering their independence, encouraging their initiative and creativity, and measuring the effectiveness of the educational process.

The activity-based approach emphasises the acquisition of a child's personal experience and the process of its formation in all types of activities carried out during early childhood: motor, play, artistic and creative, cognitive and exploratory, as well as economic and domestic activities. It directs the organisation of the educational process towards the achievement of relevant outcomes, namely relevant competences.  

The competence-based approach to organising the educational process focuses on enriching the child's experience and using complex psychological and pedagogical influences (pedagogical technologies, methods, techniques) that facilitate the development of competences. The competences acquired by a child during early childhood education are considered as the result of both upbringing and education.

An integrated approach to the organisation of the content and process of early childhood education ensures the formation of a holistic and realistic picture of the child's world, as well as the foundations of their worldview. The main characteristics of an integrated educational process are: joyful participation in events, meaningful content, active involvement of the child in joint activities with adults and peers, and mutual enrichment of social interactions.

The implementation of the requirements of the Basic component of ECEC is ensured by taking into account the talents, inclinations, abilities and individual psychological and physical capabilities of each child in the most optimal form.

 

 

Assessment

Ukrainian legislation does not include criteria for assessing children in ECEIs. This means that no formal assessments are carried out. However, many methodological recommendations have been developed for assessing children's development and performance (лист Міністерства освіти і науки України ‘Про методичні рекомендацї щодо визначення освітніх труднощів та рівнів підтримки у дітей раннього та дошкільного віку’). These include, for example, criteria for assessing children's knowledge and monitoring the progress of early childhood learners in accordance with the Basic component of ECEC.

Each ECEI independently develops its own internal quality assurance system, which includes internal monitoring of the development of children's competences. It is recommended that the outcomes of a child's education in the early and pre-school years should be examined in all the invariant areas of education outlined in the Basic component of ECEC. To achieve this, tools should be used that meet the following requirements:

  • Provide objective information about the child's overall development;

  • Not require long-term testing of the child;

  • Be based on long-term observation of the child's developmental dynamics.

  • Involve both pre-school teachers and parents as partners in providing ECEC;

  • Enable management decisions regarding the child's further successful education and upbringing, as well as improvements to the conditions of the educational process in the ECEI.

For self-assessment of educational activities, it is recommended to use the following methods of information gathering: surveys of participants in the educational process (such as questionnaires, individual interviews and focus group studies), observations (of the educational environment, daily life organisation and educational sessions), and documentation review. Methodological guides with pre-developed materials, including established performance indicators, diagnostic tools, assessment methods, and characteristics of the levels of mastery of programme requirements for children in different age groups (early years, junior pre-school, middle pre-school, and older pre-school) may also be used.

In order to assess the school readiness of older pre-school children in the context of the educational reform in Ukraine, the MESU published a set of diagnostic tasks called ‘Magical Transformations’. The Laboratory of Pre-school Child Psychology at the G.S. Kostiuk Institute of Psychology of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine developed these tasks, which the methodological recommendations describe. The design of these tasks encourages playful interaction with an adult, allowing for a supportive environment where the child's intellectual performance remains unmeasured and no conclusions are drawn that could negatively affect the child's future.

In 2021, the MESU launched a study to assess the quality of the educational process using the ECERS-3 methodology (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale - an international tool focused on the child's development and interests). Two hundred ECEIs took part in the study, and the results were published in the analytical report ‘Assessment of the quality of the educational process in ECEIs using the ECERS-3 scale’ (Оцінювання якості освітнього процесу в закладах дошкільної освіти за шкалою ECERS-3: аналітичний звіт за результатами основного етапу польового дослідження). Additionally, the research team of the MESU and the Ukrainian Institute of Education Development prepared methodological recommendations to improve the quality of the educational process in ECEIs based on the findings from the ECERS-3 study.

 

 

Transition to primary school

The educational process in ECEI for children of older pre-school age (five to six/seven years) is structured in such a way as to ensure continuity between early childhood and primary education.   The MESU has recommended an algorithm to support this continuity between early childhood and primary education for educators and parents (Алгоритм дій щодо забезпечення наступності між дошкільною та початковою освітою для фахівців та батьків вихованців щодо початку систематичного навчання дитини в закладі освіти). This algorithm aims to facilitate the systematic education of a child in an ECEI in accordance with the instructional and methodological recommendations on ensuring continuity of early childhood and primary education. To achieve this continuity, methodological work in ECEIs (or relevant structural units of an educational institution) should focus on information dissemination, educational outreach and practical guidance.

It is common practice to conclude a cooperation agreement between an ECEI and a general secondary education institution. Such agreements usually outline joint activities to ensure continuity between early childhood and primary education. These activities may include, for example, excursions for senior group children to general secondary schools, participation of primary school teachers in parent-teacher meetings, joint pedagogical councils, seminars, workshops, etc. for educators from both levels of education, as well as the organisation of classes to prepare children for primary school.