Sociology of Education in Ukraine: History and Modernity in a Context of Research Methodology

Abstract

The main purpose of this article – is the systematization of stages and trends of the sociology of education development in Ukraine. The article solves problems of separating the stages of development of this branch of sociology in Ukraine, the personification of their frameworks and the analysis of the research methodology used. The results of the research were obtained from use of the historical method, which having allowed to separate two main stages in the development of the sociology of education in Ukraine (1960s- 1980s; 1990s-to the present), as well as the comparative method, which demonstrated the potential use of micro-and macro-theoretical constructions in the Ukrainian sociologists’ research practices in education. It is shown that the basic research schools on sociology of education operate today in Kharkov, Kiev, Donetsk, Luhansk. Separate studies are conducted in Odessa, Lvov. The main attention of their researches is focused on macroprocesses in education. The prevailing research methodology is structural functionalism. Education in terms of microsociology is studied less frequently, although the practice of using the qualitative research methodology became more popular. The factors of influence on Western theoretical concepts on sociologists’ research practices in education were also considered. The need to enhance the international cooperation in the field of sociology of education is defined as the perspective.