European Trends in Education and their Impact on Vocational Training in Ukraine

Abstract

The transformational socio-economic changes of the early twenty-first century have led to irreversible changes in the field of vocational training and education. The increased number of people seeking for education, increased demand for educational programs with practice oriented content, the rapid pace of development of the information and communication technologies, accessibility and dissemination of information and much more ‒ all raise the question with the scientific and economic elites about the content of professional training programs and the functioning of vocational education as a system. The article points to the priority directions of the European education development, the introduction of changes in the Ukrainian educational legislation that stimulate academic institutions to develop author programs for vocational training and education, introduction of quantitative and qualitative changes in the educational process. The implementation of certain European trends in education was considered on the example of the educational program “Social Pedagogy” of the Ukrainian Catholic University. The author of the article considers the peculiarities of the modern educational program functioning through internationalization and quality assurance of education; the rise of the professional level of research and faculty staff; the introduction of the principles of continuing education; the combination of the efforts of teachers, students, business, and NGOs for the sake of creation of a system of social responsibility.