For years, the Western regions of Ukraine lacked highly qualified personnel for preschool education institutions. And in the Precarpathian region, even more so: the nearest pedagogical institute that provided professional training for preschool specialists functioned in Rivne. Accordingly, by the end of the 90s of the 20th century, graduates of Ivano-Frankivsk Pedagogical Institute in various areas of pedagogical education worked as educators in kindergartens in the city. So, only every fifth employee of the then preschool educational institution (including heads and methodologists) had a university education in preschool education. We note that this is not about the fact that there were little or insufficiently qualified teachers working in kindergartens, since they were still specialists with higher education, albeit in other profiles, mostly pedagogical. However, when it comes to educating future citizens of the state, today it is undeniable that this matter should be dealt with professionally and from an early age, from preschool age. Only with this approach can we talk about ensuring the proper level of its implementation and achieving the expected results.
So, in the scientific circles of the teaching staff of the higher pedagogical educational institution, which in the region was the Vasyl Stefanyk Pedagogical Institute, they started talking about creating a corresponding specialty at the pedagogical faculty and thus improving the situation in the preschool education system in the region.
The initiator of the creation of a separate department that would train specialists for preschool education institutions in the Carpathian region was Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor, Academician, Full Member of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine (at that time Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy of the Ivano-Frankivsk Pedagogical Institute named after V. Stefanyk) Myroslav Stelmakhovych. Myroslav Stelmakhovych invited Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology (Preschool) from the Rivne State Pedagogical Institute Nelli Lysenko with a proposal to create and head the Department of Theory and Methods of Preschool Education.
The first intake of students for the specialty «Preschool Education» took place in 1988. By the way, in the territory of western Ukraine, the Ivano-Frankivsk Pedagogical Institute became the second higher educational institution for training specialists of the specified profile. At that time, similar education was obtained in Ukraine at the Kyiv Pedagogical Institute named after M. Dragomanov, the Rivne State Pedagogical Institute named after D. Manuilsky, the Odessa Pedagogical Institute named after K. Ushinsky and the Zaporizhzhia Pedagogical Institute.
The Department of Theory and Methods of Preschool Education initiated the graduation of specialists in the specialty «Preschool Education» with the qualification «Educator. Methodologist of preschool institutions. Teacher of pedagogy and psychology of preschool», which lasted until 1998 and provided preschool institutions with more than three thousand highly qualified teachers. Our graduates are the real personnel base of preschools not only in the Carpathian region, but also far beyond its borders: in Bukovina, Transcarpathia, Podolia. And today, students from Ternopil, Transcarpathia, Rivne, and Kyiv regions of Ukraine also study here.
The first graduates of the department and its staff are candidates of pedagogical sciences, associate professors Nataliya Kyrsta, Lyudmila Matsuk, Nadiya Lazarovych. Over the years, other departments of the pedagogical institute were formed from among the teachers of the department: N. Abdyukova, T. Kotyk, N. Lutsan, A. Palii, O. Parkulab, L. Pletenytska, V. Radchuk, A. Rego.
Since the 1998-1999 academic years, the training of bachelors and masters in the specializations has been launched in specializations «Speech therapy. Defectology», «Foreign language teacher of preschool children», «Primary education». For ten years, a postgraduate department has been operating with full-time and part-time forms of study in the specialty: «Theory and methodology of vocational education».
The methodological basis of student education and postgraduate training is based on the national idea, taking into account the realities of the multicultural space in Ukraine, especially in the era of its educational transformations. Therefore, it is quite logical that a separate milestone in the activities of the Department of Theory and Methods of Preschool Education was the holding of the first International Conference in Ukraine «The Use of Folk Customs and Rituals in the Education of Preschool Children» (1992) with the participation of scientists not only from the western regions of Ukraine, but also from Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Odessa, Kyiv, and scientists from Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia.
In recent years, the department’s staff has been successfully working on the general scientific problem «Preparation of a future teacher for professional activity in the context of the transformation of the social system and the integration of Ukraine into the European educational space» (state registration number 0106U009432, implementation period from 2017 to 2026). It is significant that in the context of this scientific problem, the department’s teachers, its employees and postgraduate students have held many international-level events: conferences, seminars, round tables, etc.
It is important for the department that not only employees of the Department of Theory and Methods of Preschool and Special Education, but also other departments are involved in scientific work and the improvement of the educational process at the university as a whole. And all the conditions have been created for this: students undergo various internships in the specialty in accordance with the curriculum in basic institutions of the city and region.
Traditionally, the department staff maintains scientific contacts with scientists from the Khmelnytskyi Humanitarian and Pedagogical Academy, the M.P. Dragomanov National Pedagogical University, the Volodymyr Hnatyuk Ternopil State Pedagogical University, the Yu. Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, the I. Frank Lviv National University, the Ivan Ohienko Kamianets-Podilskyi National University, the Mukachevo State University, etc.
The prestige of the department is evidenced by the fact that its graduates are 100% employed, and many of them now head the relevant departments, head the deans’ offices in higher educational institutions of Chernivtsi, Rivne, Drohobych, Khmelnytskyi and other universities of Ukraine.
In December 2023, the head of the Department of Theory and Methods of Preschool and Special Education was appointed Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor Lyudmila Oleksandrivna Matsuk.
Today, the training of specialists in the field of preschool and special education is provided by highly qualified NPP stakeholders. The senior laboratory assistant of the department is O. Kobyletskaya.
The Department of Theory and Methods of Preschool and Special Education is a graduate school in the training of higher education applicants for the educational and professional program «Preschool Education» of the first (bachelor’s) level of higher education in the specialty 012 «Preschool Education» (guarantor of the educational program – head of the department, candidate of pedagogical sciences, professor Lyudmila Matsuk), «Preschool Education» of the second (master’s) level (guarantor of the educational program – candidate of pedagogical sciences, associate professor Nadiya Lazarovych) in the specialty 012 Preschool Education and «Special Education (Speech Therapy)» (guarantor of the educational program – candidate of pedagogical sciences, associate professor Inna Marchenko) in the specialty 016 Special Education, specialization 016.01. Speech Therapy.
International ties have been established with scientists from Poland – these are the Olsztyn and Wroclaw Universities, the Pomeranian Pedagogical Academy (Slupsk), the I. Dlugosz Pedagogical Academy (Czestochowa) and the Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava (Romania).
The social status of a preschool education specialist throughout the years of the department’s existence has objectively remained very high. The university has gained such an image among educational institutions of Ukraine due to the high professional level of its teaching staff, which objectively ensures the successful training of specialists in the specified specialty.