A holistic, comprehensive and systematic analysis of the content of national education in the national educational thought in the second half of the XIX - early XX century is presented in the dissertation. The author distinguished that the process of national education content crystallization, which was a reflection of the same for the whole of Ukraine, was carried out not only in the context and the interaction with the educational thought all over the territory of whole Ukrainian lands, but also in the context and under the influence of Russian, Western Europe and the world educational thoughts development, was the characteristic of the educational thought of the second half of the XIX - early XX century period. Stages and tendencies of evolution of the content of national education in educational thought Ukraine in the second half of XIX - early XX century are pointed out in the thesis on the basis of the socio-political, socio-economic, social and educational factors, the prevailing ideological concepts and pedagogical determinants: I stage - language, cultural and ethnographic (1857- 1905) - the beginning of the national education content formation, the searching of its new content (the dominant tendency of the period - the education of children on the bases of humanism, democracy, formation of patriots, who were imbued with the spirit of national consciousness that combine national commitment with universal and democratic ideals); II stage - the national and governmental (1905 -1916) - the justification for the national education content in the context of a theoretical model of the Ukrainian national school education paradigm and active members of civil society development (the particular tendency of the period: the gradual development of the paradigm of a free, humane educated active members of civil society, the national democratic value orientations dominance and ideas of independent children creative potentials development); III stage - territorial and governmental (1917 - 1919) - the dynamics the national education content shaping in the context of governmental and state function of Ukraine (the dominant tendency of the period: the education content consideration in the context of moral and social values of the nation and the national spiritual needs of the people). The analysis and theoretical understanding of the creative heritage of public and cultural figures helped to define the main educational values in the national education content of each stage, its evolution in the Upper Dnieper Ukrainian educational thought of the studied period: Christian spirituality and patriotism - generation ancestry consciousness, native people respect and love, respect for its language, folk traditions, customs, culture, industry (1857 - 1905 years); nation identity consciousness, historical memory, morality, patriotism (1905 - 1916 years); national and civic values: the national idea and the idea of the Ukrainian national and spiritual catholicity, independence, national unity, national pride and self-esteem (1917 - 1919). It is proved that the formation of the national education content has the following pattern: the conditionality of the national education contents under the influence of community, social and national needs which were formed in a certain period of ideology and politics, the interests of society, the state, socio-cultural and ethnic norms and traditions, political and social changes in people life. The key principles of the national education content construction include: the link between education and life (educational activity orients the personality on harmonisation of its activity with society life) culturally corresponding principle (the organic link with people history, their language, traditions, providing spiritual unity of generations), ethnicities (education national content filling, the formation of citizen self-consciousness); nationality (the unity of the universal and national). Ukrainian educators, writers and public figures contribution in the formation of the content of the national education of the second half of XIX - early XX century, as reflected in the media, teaching and literature in Ukraine is characterised by the investigator. The investigation proved out that the contents of the Ukrainian national education in Ukrainian educational thought in the second half of XIX - early XX century in its evolution has undergone significant qualitative and quantitative changes started from the haphazard and fragmented representations of the individual components in the context of the requirements of education of Ukrainians in the 60s of XIX century ending by the quite national education theory formation with a clearly defined content (value relationship to the state, society itself, people, nature, work and art, historical and spiritual achievements of native land people) in 1917-1920. The national education content was understood by prominent theorists understood as the basics of education, imbued with the idea of Ukrainians, designed to prepare the fully developed, highly educated, spiritually and culturally rich people, patriots of Ukraine, who can enrich the material, spiritual and cultural values. The theoretical achievements of representatives of Ukraine pedagogical thought in the second half of XIX-early XX century on the national education content development can be creatively used in the present conditions: the children and youth education is a national outlook formation, love for Ukraine should be recognised as the priority values; Ukrainian national idea as an integral factor of unification of society for the building of the State must be the basis of the pedagogical process; the educational function of educational institutions, public, government and private organizations in the implementation of the idea of universal unity and national, practical orientation of all components of the national education content and the development of critical thinking of students as a prerequisite for building sustainable national views and beliefs should be strengthened.
