MIKHAILO BAZNYK – A PEDOLOGIST, THE AUTHOR OF THE ORIGINAL METHOD OF A STUDENT'S CHARACTER REFERENCE COMPOSITION

Abstract

It has been actualized that a special place among Ukrainian teachers of the beginning of XX century is occupied by a teacher and methodologist, a scientist, a public figure, an author of numerous scientific articles Mykhailo Baznyk (1889–1976). He was one of the first in Ukrainian scientific thought to study the choice of occupations by students, worked on the problem of studying students' physical, mental and psychological instincts and abilities by teachers, and offered an original method for drawing up a character reference of the student. It is emphasized that the teacher's ideas have not lost their relevance nowadays, and, therefore, can be used in the process of reforming the modern Ukrainian school. Through the analysis of the scientific and pedagogical works of Mykhailo Baznyk written in 1920–1930s, his pedological heritage has been presented. The evolution of pedagogical views of the pedagogue has been traced from the theoretical development of pedology to practical study of students and methodical recommendations for the application of the results of pedological research in teacher's pedagogical activity. It has been proved that in the 1920s and 1930s, in the period of flourishing of pedology, M. Baznyk became one of the brightest representatives of this science in Galicia, actively and systematically publishing his works in Lviv scientific and pedagogical editions «Uchytelske slovo” (“Teacher's Word”) and “Shljah navchannja i vyhovannja” (“The Way of Education and Upbringing”). It has been justified that the scholar sought to implement his scientific outlook in practice, offering detailed methodological advice on studying a student by a teacher with further character reference of the student. The structure of pedology according to M. Baznyk has been systematized in the form of a table, which in his vision consists of the following areas: psychopedology, pathological pedology, physiopedology, laboratory pedology, testology, theoretical pedology, pedotechnics, moral pedology. The scholar's methodological work “Choosing an Occupation. Practical Guide for School and Home” became the generalization of M. Baznyk's pedological views, where the principles and directions of studying a student by a teacher and the method of drawing up the character reference of the student based on the study of his mental and physical qualities were given in detail. It has been substantiated that the relevance of M. Baznyk's creative work was conditioned by a productive combination of a talented researcher and experienced teacher-practitioner in his person. Brief biographical information about the pedagogue, the scheme of the student's character reference, the requirements to the character reference have been presented.