The research provides a holistic analysis of the peculiarities of the formation of the classroom space of a primary school in Ukraine in the late nineteenth century – 1991 as the key structural component of the school space, the main room in the school, which provides the required conditions for a quality educational process and comprehensive development of the child in order to update the positive experience in the context of the creation of the New Ukrainian School.
In connection with the emergence of new challenges and issues in the context of psycho-traumatic events, it is becoming relevant to study the historical and pedagogical experience of the past in creating a favourable educational environment and, in particular, the formation of the space of the primary school classroom, which would not only preserve continuity in the development of pedagogical science but also update the positive experience in the context of the creation of the New Ukrainian School. From the end of the twentieth century until 1991, the space of the primary school classroom in Ukraine had its own history of formation, which is associated with changing approaches to education, changing cultural environment, and the development of material and technical resources.
The paper describes the theory and practice of classroom space arrangement in the history of the national primary school in the studied chronological periods, which are divided into separate stages: pre-revolutionary (late nineteenth – early twentieth centuries), 20–30s of the twentieth century, Soviet (1939–1991), in which the following sub-stages are identified: 40-50s, 60s, 70-80s of the twentieth century.
There is updated historical and pedagogical experience in the formation of the classroom space as an essential component of the educational environment of the New Ukrainian School – the reform of general secondary education, which is being implemented in Ukraine.
The paper traces the origins and principles of modern requirements for the formation of the New Ukrainian School classroom space. On the basis of the generalisation, it is proved that the space of the classroom of the New Ukrainian School must not only respond to the challenges, requirements, and norms that are constantly changing in the context of social change but also rely on the concept’s national educators and the extensive practical experience of primary schools in Ukraine from the late nineteenth century and till 1991. The conclusion is drawn that many aspects reflected in the New Ukrainian School Concept concerning the formation of the primary school classroom space resonate with pedagogical ideas and experiences of the past.
The study describes perspective approaches to the formation of a safe classroom space for children in the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russian-Ukrainian war, including cultural and humanistic, systemic, and holistic, mental, and emotional, personal development, socio-geographical, distance, local poster, spatial, co-adaptive, socio-cultural, environmental, anthropological, ergonomic, hygienic, inclusive, etc.
The scientific innovation of the study is that for the first time:
Systematically and holistically reveals the specifics of classroom space formation in the context of socio-political, socio-economic, and cultural factors of the studied period;
The theory and practice of classroom space arranging in the history of the national primary school within the investigated chronological framework is systematised and generalised; the works of national educators, psychologists, hygienists, and architects, which addressed the issues of school buildings and classroom organisation in certain chronological terms are comprehensively and systematically analysed;
It is established that the transformations in the formation of the classroom space were connected with the tasks assigned by the state to the education system, taking into account the scientific and pedagogical, ergonomic, anthropometric, hygienic, and aesthetic needs of each stage of development of education and pedagogy;
In the process of scientific research, the content of the basic concepts of “classroom’’, “classroom space’’, and “formation of classroom space’’ is clarified. The space of the classroom is considered a spatial and subject component of a primary school, which includes the frame, school furniture, material, and technical, educational, and methodological support of the educational process, the totality and certain placement of which creates conditions for the organisation of training. The components of the classroom space include items that acquire a special meaning in the school (signs, symbols, stands, posters, wall hangings, etc.)
