Research Plans as the Source of Studying the Development of Historical Science in the Pedagogical Institutes of Ukraine (the second half of the 40s – early 50’s of the twentieth century)
Abstract
The paper describes the plans of research work of the pedagogical institutes of Ukraine of the second half of the 40s – beginning of the 50s of the twentieth century as an information carrier on the development of historical science in these educational institutions. It has been found out that research plans of pedagogical institutes belong to ordinary written sources. Their uniformity shows itself in the similar origin, form and available information. This type of written sources was peculiar to the Soviet system of the higher school record keeping. In the practice of pedagogical institutes, they were introduced since the 1930s. In the post-war period, the planning of research work assumed a wider scope in order to create a whole picture of the prospects of intellectual activity of the higher educational institutions teaching staff.
It has been ascertained that the planning of research work in the studied period was carried out in two chronological designations: current (for one year) and strategic (for five years). According to its structure, current and strategic plans were homogeneous and consisted of the following sections: the name and substantiation of the problem, the list of themes, which it was divided into, the expected results of work, timing, cost and sources of funding.
Detailed analysis of the research plans of the pedagogical institutes allows tracing the following trends regarding the content of the complex themes of the Departments of History: 1) there was a narrowing of the chronological boundaries of Ukrainian studies researches; 2) the ideologization of researched themes increased; 3) the diversity of research projects increased, and that prevented the creation and developing of scientific schools on history in the pedagogical institutes of Ukraine.
It has been revealed that the weak point of the scientific activity of lecturers was the lack of certain criteria for evaluating its efficiency. Plans did not include the specification of research dimensions in the form of the number of printed characters, did not set up any requirements regarding the chronological detailed elaboration of its execution.
The scientific and research plans analysis makes it possible to find out the orientation of the existing system of refresher training of lecturers-historians worked in pedagogical institutes at that time. The refresher training was primarily connected with the reinforcement of methodology and methods of scientific research, deepening of knowledge on history, and at the same time, did not provide the improvement of teaching skills. Research plans reveal the financing issues of scientific researches. It has been determined that all historical projects were carried out at the expense of the state budget.
The author has found out that the attitude to the research plans among teaching staff of the pedagogical institutes differed. The management of the educational institutions considered them as one of the incentives to intensify the scientific activity. Instead, most lecturers considered themselves dependent on fixed obligations, which, due to various circumstances, did not meet their true scientific interests and could not be fulfilled.
