The dissertation deals with the study of organizational and pedagogical principles of the functions of the People’s Commissariat of Education of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialistic Republic as the governing body of the period of the formation of the Ukrainian Soviet educational model of higher education, its functioning in the conditions of the abolition of democratization in the field of education introduced during the period of the Ukrainian statehood of 1917–1921, the emergence and establishment of the totalitarian system.
The structure of the People’s Commissariat of the USSR in 1919 – early 1930s is revealed. The system analysis of the functions of the People’s Commissariat of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was subordinated to the Council of People’s Commissars, which operated under the control of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Bolsheviks of Ukraine, gives grounds for asserting the search for new forms and methods of education management. In the context of the development of the Soviet state, they changed from targeting the education management system of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic to relatively independent functioning, and in the early 1930s, to unify the whole system of education and the entire all-Union subordination. In the early 1920s, the People's Commissariat and the committees that were part of it held administrative and organizational functions aimed at reforming the system of higher education in Ukraine. The reorganization of the People’s Commissariat in 1925 and the introduction in its structure of the departments were characterized by deepening and intensifying educational and methodological activities in higher education, and at the beginning of the 1930s – an increase in overall ideological influence with a radical change in the tasks of the People’s Commissariat and its sectors.
The periodization of the functions of the People’s Commissariat of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the field of higher education in 1919 – early 1930s was proposed.
I period – 1919–1920 – an integral part of the Ukrainian Revolution, which is characterized by the parallel existence of the Soviet and the Ukrainian National Soviet system of higher education;
II period – 1920–1923 – organization of the Soviet model of higher education;
ІІІ period – 1923–1927 – «Ukrainization» of the high school;
IV period – 1928 – the beginning of the 1930s - discontinuance of the democratic tendencies, introduction of the repressive-totalitarian system.
The activity of the People’s Commissariat in 1919–1920 at higher education was traced which had a reorganization character, namely: the abolition of universities (on the basis of their faculties, institutions were formed, which, together with colleges, were considered to be higher educational institutions); the introduction of the post of commissioner, changes in student enrollment conditions, the establishment of labor departments, the organization of «zero-semesters» with the aim of preparing young working people for higher education.
The educational process of the period of 1920–1923 in higher education was highlighted (new curriculums, work syllabuses were developed in which the material was distributed on the theoretical, which was worked on lectures, interviews with all students and practical, which assimilated through seminars in laboratories, workshops, etc., new teaching methods were used: Dalton plan, project method, laboratory methods, etc.; examinations and tests were eliminated instead a collective assessment of knowledge was introduced; the obligatory element of the educational process became the summer industrial practice and production internships, the duration of which depended on the specifics of the institution).
The introduction of the model of higher education in Soviet Ukraine during the 1920s by the People’s Commissariat of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was traced. The directive management of organization educational process in high school was characterized. The process of reforming higher education aimed at realization of the course of «Ukrainization» (1923–1927) as an important component of national policy, which played a positive role in the establishment and development of the system of higher education of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, promoted the expansion of the sphere of functioning of the Ukrainian language in the educational process of higher education, enhancement of its social status and prestige. However, a number of both objective and subjective reasons slowed down this process, and the repressions of the 1930s proved the impossibility of its completion in the conditions of the Soviet totalitarian regime. Further illumination of historical and pedagogical aspects of the activities of the People’s Commissariat of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic as a governing body for the management of the system of higher education has taken place.
The practical signi
