Native and Multilingual Education in the Context of Sustainable Development of Society

16.2.2023

The webinar “Native and Multilingual Education in the Context of Sustainable Development of Society” dedicated to the UNESCO International Mother Language Day was held.

“Do not pray in a foreign language, because you will die on your knees…”
(Dmytro Pavlychko).

On February 15, 2023, Oksana Kleschova is the head of the Department of Ukrainian Language of the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Professors of the Department of Ukrainian Language are Dr. Philol. Kateryna N. Hlukhovtseva, Doctor of Pedagogy. Alla N. Nikitina; Acting the Head of the Department of Quality Management of Educational Activities – Margarita Kravchenko and assistant professors Nadiia Karlova and Halyna Barylova took part in the webinar “Mother-Language and Multilingual Education in the Context of Sustainable Development of Society” dedicated to the UNESCO International Mother Language Day (February 21).

Venue of the webinar: online on the basis of the Institute of Pedagogical Education and Adult Education named after Ivan Ziaziun of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, 9 M. Berlinskyi St.).

The initiator of the annual event is the UNESCO Department “Continuous Professional Education of the 21st Century” and the Ivan Ziaziun Institute of Pedagogical Education and Adult Education of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv.

The participants of the webinar were 168 people: public figures, scientists, students, master’s students, postgraduate students, doctoral students, teachers of institutions of professional pre-higher and higher education, teachers and methodologists of institutes of postgraduate pedagogical education, teachers of general education and preschool institutions of Ukraine.

The issues of the webinar covered the following issues:

1. Ukrainian-language education as a priority of national progress in war and post-war times.
2. Problems of the development of multilingual and mother-tongue education in modern Ukrainian society – an authoritative opinion.
3. European trends in multilingual education.
4. Experience of multilingual and native language education in institutions of professional pre-higher and higher pedagogical education.
5. Confirmation of the traditions of native language education in the conditions of secondary education institutions.
6. Preservation of cultural heritage in the museum space.

Thematic sections:

Section 1. Trends in native language education in Ukraine.

Section 2. Foreign experience of mother tongue and multilingual education

Section 3. Development of language culture of the individual: educational practice

The webinar began with the speech “Ukrainian Language Today: Challenges and Role Models” by Pavlo Yukhimovych Hrytsenko – Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor, Director of the Institute of the Ukrainian Language of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the main theses of which were the following: the Ukrainian language in Ukraine is a means of humanizing society, integrating the ethnic group into the European space; ways and means of strengthening the Ukrainian language; concentration of energy in the defense of the entire national “I”; detection and prevention of sabotage against the Ukrainian language; Ukrainian-centrism of education; the Ukrainian language is the language of our Victory.

Pavlo Hrytsenko initiated the proposals of the philological community of Ukraine to the Ministry of Science and Education of Ukraine, which refer to the need to remove the Ukrainian language from the National Multimedia Test and introduce external independent assessment of this subject throughout Ukraine; return of language courses and special courses to all higher education institutions with mandatory examination.

All the participants of the webinar are unanimous in the fact that the speakers and co-speakers raised a number of issues of great importance for the modern life of Ukraine, passionately defended the prosperity of the Ukrainian language and culture in Ukraine, arguing at the same time with indisputable evidence.

We ended the webinar with a joint thesis-opinion: just as our soldiers-defenders defend our land in the rain and in the cold, it is our duty to defend our language in the mental sphere: “The Ukrainian language is the language of our Victory!” (Valerii Zaluzhnyi).

The conclusion of the webinar: today we are all creating our history together – the history of Ukraine based on Ukrainian centrism.

Department of the Ukrainian Language