Innovative Approaches of Political Education in Ukraine: On the Example of Developed Western Democracies

Abstract

This article was composed to discuss the particular traits of the contemporary political education of students in Ukraine.  A system of political education is introduced to develop the fundamental political knowledge and skill-set of students, as well as aiding in the formation of their civic consciousness. The innovative modernization approaches are represented by American Political Science Association. The main purpose of the research to show modernization methods of political education what is the basis for the formation of democratic values of Ukrainian society. Much attention is paid to the correlation between civic and political education. The need for value content of political education adds to the urgency of the study. This involves making greater use of the tools of political education to support the dialogue of cultures in the modern world. Ensuring that society is prepared to solve global problems by developing the active position and individual responsibility of each young person should be an equally important result of political education in the 21st century. Political education now requires a walkthrough approach of implementation (through project initiatives, socio-cultural activities, networking and various types of cooperation between those who get education in the socio-political sector). The authors emphasize that it is worth rethinking the new opportunities of social networks, the Internet era to build youth initiatives and teams for project work. However, one of the challenges of the information society is the dominance of different types of data (“information noise”), which requires young people to have a higher level of media literacy and more developed critical thinking. Systematization literary sources and approaches for solving the problem indicates that the new systems of political values have been formed, which are essential for the democratization. Two groups of mutually perceived values were approved. The first group is dominant. It is associated with values such as security, sovereignty, patriotism, freedom, human rights, justice, political stability. The second group of established values is evolving: legality, responsibility, equality, political pluralism, legitimacy. This article reveals the understanding of these values of Ukrainian citizens on the basis of Ukrainian and European sociological research.