Andragogy: Theory and Practice of Adult Education Development in Ukraine

Abstract

At this point, there are no systematic studies on the problems of adult education as a field of scientific and theoretical elaboration and its transformation in andragogy in Ukraine. The article aims to conduct a holistic and systematic analysis of establishing and developing andragogy as a theory and practice of adult education in Ukraine between the late 19th century - the 20th century to use the positive historical experience in modern andragogy. The article justifies the periodization of andragogy development in Ukraine (the 1850s-1917 - the emergence of theory and practice of adult learning in the context of developing adult education as a form of social and educational movement and out-of-school education; 1918-1940 - the establishment of scientific principles of adult learning in the system of illiteracy elimination and political education; the 1950s-1980s - the scientific elaboration of andragogical problems in the light of the Soviet concept of adult pedagogy; the 1990s - the early 21st century - the development of andragogy as a science, academic subject, social practice). The periodization of andragogy development in Ukraine has made it possible to identify the system-forming processes in adult education at the level of structural and organizational forms. A historiographical analysis of the problem under study shows that Ukrainian scholars pay much attention to adult education as a socio-cultural phenomenon with deep historical traditions and heritage. Despite the growing interest of scholars in this particular problem, the term “andragogy” is not commonly used in the context of their research. At the same time, almost all authors are interested in the theory and practice of adult learning.