Teaching History and Civic Education as a Factor in Forming the National and Civil Identity of Students in the War and Post-war Development of Ukraine

Abstract

The article analyzes the psychological and philosophical essence of the phenomenon of human identity. The importance of identity is defined as a personal formation that allows a person to form him(her)self in all the range of relations with the surrounding world and to determine a system of values, ideals, life plans and orientations. A person with a developed identity is more consistent in his/ her actions, sees the prospects of his/her life and feels more prosperous. The collective identity of the citizens of a certain state is very important as a foundation for its strengthening and further development. The task of forming a personal and collective Ukrainian national and civic identity among the citizens of Ukraine has become extremely relevant in the conditions of the russian large-scale aggression against Ukraine. Ukrainian national identity is understood as a person’s stable awareness of belonging to the Ukrainian nation as a unique community, while Ukrainian civic identity is a stable awareness by a citizen of Ukraine, a Ukrainian abroad of his/her political and legal connection with Ukraine. Since we are talking about two types of identity, the article presents an analysis of the essence of each of them and concludes that they are different in certain characteristics, but some of their features coincide, which makes it possible to talk about general approaches to the development of these personal formations in the learning process.
The research made it possible to single out the factors and mechanisms of its formation, to investigate the state and prospects of solving this task by means of historical and civic education of students in the conditions of deep social transformations. In particular, basic secondary education is singled out as a separate stage of the formation of Ukrainian identity, since students of this age must already consciously choose for themselves belonging to the Ukrainian nation and a democratic legal state. The historical and civic branch of Ukrainian education should work on the development of students’ self-conscious identity.
The article describes a didactic model of human identity formation, which consists of cognitive (epistemological, cognitive), emotional and value (motivation to act, own attitudes oriented towards national, state and civic values, respect and their personal acceptance) and activity-behavioral components and an approximate list of knowledge, abilities, skills and attitudes is defined, which ensures the formation of Ukrainian national and civic identity in the teaching of history and civic education of students of different ages. The proposed list makes it possible to specify what changes the content and organization of teaching history and civic education should undergo today. In particular, the necessity of the dominance of the Ukrainian vision not only of its own, but also of world history, accentuation of democratic values, active participation of students not only in mastering subjects in class but also in the real life of the community and the state has been proven.