Updated: 3/8/2025
The Department of Theory and Methodology of Preschool and Primary Education was established on July 1, 2020, following the merger of the Department of Natural-Mathematical Disciplines and Speech Therapy with the Department of Philology. Today, it is one of the most powerful units at Kherson State University.
The Head of the Department is Associate Professor Olena Valeriivna Sagan, a Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences. Under her leadership, the department comprises 10 associate professors, 1 senior lecturer, and 1 lecturer—professionals of different ages and experiences—who ensure the implementation of educational trajectories for students in the specialties of "Preschool Education," "Primary Education," and "Special Education." They teach more than 60 educational components in areas such as the fundamentals of computer science, Ukrainian studies, and English.
The department's academic staff actively collaborates with various educational institutions. Highly qualified stakeholders are involved in the educational process, establishing an effective link between science, education, and practice.
The department's research activities are an integral part of the education system, aimed at providing a scientific basis for solving the issue of developing professional competencies in modern educators and integrating them into the university’s educational process.
The department's faculty members participate in innovative educational and methodological activities, including conferences, seminars, training sessions, master classes, and professional development courses for educators. A unique initiative for the faculty is their involvement in the "University of the Third Generation – for Young-at-Heart Students" project, initiated and organized by the rector of Kherson State University, Professor Oleksandr Spivakovskyi. This project enables retirees to engage in active student life.
The department collaborates closely with representatives of higher education institutions in Ukraine, CIS countries, and Europe, including the Academy of Jan Długosz (Częstochowa, Poland), the Evangelical Fröbel Seminar (Kassel, Germany), the St. Elisabeth Verein Foundation (Marburg, Germany), Baranovichi State University (Baranovichi, Belarus), the Pomeranian Academy (Słupsk, Poland), and Klagenfurt University (Klagenfurt, Austria). These strong international ties allow students to pursue education through the "Double Diploma" project, making them competitive professionals in the European Union.
The department is one of the leading units at the university in terms of scientific and educational-methodological output, including monographs, textbooks, methodological materials, articles in both national and international journals, and publications indexed in citation databases such as Copernicus, Web of Science, and Scopus.
Great attention is paid to the testing and implementation of students’ research ideas. From their first year, students are involved in research activities within problem groups and scientific circles. Graduates have the opportunity to present their research in the Kherson State University journal Master’s Studies and in the department’s scientific collection Formation of Research Competencies of Preschool and Primary Education Teachers.
Engaging young people in various forms of research work not only helps train highly qualified specialists but also creates conditions for further involvement of the department’s graduates in scientific and pedagogical activities at the university.
Together with academic group curators, the department’s faculty encourages students' creative activities by involving them in numerous cultural and educational events. Curators create moral, psychological, and organizational conditions necessary for personal development, fostering culturally and politically mature, highly qualified professionals based on their intellectual abilities.
The quality of the educational process is enhanced by a modern material and technical base, which includes a state-of-the-art computer lab, a coworking center, a specialized classroom for Ukrainian studies, and the pride of the entire university—a classroom with an interactive floor.
The department's mission is to ensure a level of professional education that, based on national achievements of global significance and established European traditions, allows for the formation of competitive pedagogical professionals in the labor market. These professionals will be capable of carrying out their duties on democratic and humanistic principles and implementing educational policy as a priority state function aimed at personal development, self-realization, and meeting individuals’ educational and cultural-spiritual needs.