Honscharuk M. Pedagogical conditions of creating an integrated educational environment of elementary school in eastern lands of Germany

The author presents a systematic and comprehensive analysis of pedagogical conditions of creating an integrated educational environment in eastern lands of Germany. The analysis is based on sources and translations of scientific and educational literature published in Germany, which are not well-known in Ukraine, (between 1945 and 2016). The concept and functions of an integrated educational environment in elementary school are specified. The author also analyses historical and pedagogical prerequisites for creating an integrated educational environment in elementary school in eastern lands of Germany. The researcher has clarified and substantiated pedagogical conditions of creating an integrated educational environment in eastern lands of Germany. They are as follows: the implementation of a competence-oriented paradigm and interdisciplinary connections; the choice of learning and teaching methods and techniques to meet students’ abilities and reach goals of the lesson; the combination of class and after class activities. The author has specified peculiarities of the content, forms and methods of organizing an educational process in elementary school in eastern lands of Germany. The author offers to introduce scientific concepts and terminology which explain new teaching approaches and methods which contribute to the creation of an integrated educational environment in elementary school. She has analysed unpopular and unknown research-related works published in German. It increases historical and pedagogical knowledge about an integrated educational environment in elementary school in eastern lands of Germany. The author has done a comparative analysis of tendencies of creating an integrated educational environment in modern elementary school of Germany and Ukraine. The positive aspects are: 1) to introduce integrated courses; 2) to include «Robotics» as an invariant component of four-year-of-study curriculum; 3) to focus on an competency approach; 4) to enhance the integration between schools and social and economic environment; 5) to use IT in elementary schools widely; and 6) to realise a new system of teacher professional development. The author has figured out that the overfilled elementary classes affects the process of creating an integrated educational environment in eastern lands of Germany negatively; there are absent books for students at different learning levels; smaller in size topics are absorbed by global ones in integrated courses; there is a lack of budget time on training capital letters writing. The researcher has identified common and different features of the process of creating an integrated educational environment in elementary school in Ukraine and eastern lands of Germany. The common features are the implementation of techniques of personality and competency-oriented education, the cooperation with educational institutions. The different features are the duration of a lesson, the implementation of a competency approach, the system and approaches to assessing a student performance, the mechanism of the approval of curricula, the integration of academic subjects, and payment for hours which teachers spend on the preparation of lessons. The author has identified the degree of the development of an integration educational environment in elementary school in Ukraine and eastern lands of Germany. She has also specified criteria and indicators of an integrated educational environment in elementary school in Ukraine and in eastern lands of Germany. The researcher has developed methodical recommendations for creating an integrated educational environment of elementary school in Ukraine taking into account trends in Germany, and created integrated curricula for elementary school.