IMPROVING THE EXPERTISE OF SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS

Abstract

In the article, the authors represent the problem that concerns the examination of a textbook on Ukrainian language for 8th grades of secondary schools. Authors described progressive aspects, related to the ideas of the school textbooks variability. Negative aspects of implementing the idea of variability of school textbooks are covered; the requirements for the Ukrainian language textbook as a manual are presented. Problems, the solution of which will positively affect the quality of the textbook variability, are covered. The authors also touched upon the issue that concerns the improvement of the criteria for the analysis of a school textbook. They formulate the requirements for expert opinions, which are related to the specific subject of training, conduct an analysis on the information and other materials examination of Ukrainian language textbooks for the 8th grades that were submitted to the competition of textbooks in 2016. Shortcomings were discovered and classified. Among them there are the causes of errors made by the authors in the creation process of textbooks for secondary school pupils. Authors determined the advantages and constructive proposals that have been made by the experts to improve the quality of textbooks. The article reveals the other pros and cons of experts’ opinions. They also point out the experts’ mistakes which they admit in the process of evaluating textbooks. The causes of these errors were described. They suggest the ways to raise the professional level of experts. It will have a positive impact on the experts’ learning process under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine with the direct participation of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine and the Institute of Pedagogy of the NAES of Ukraine. In this article, the proposals to improve the process of examination of school textbooks were provided.