Scientific School «Methods of Vocational Training. Engineering Pedagogy ”was founded by its current head – Rector of the Ukrainian Academy of Engineering and Pedagogy (UIPA), Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor Kovalenko Olena Eduardovna in 1996. Just this year, then the candidate of pedagogical sciences, associate professor O.E. Kovalenko entered the doctoral program of the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology of Vocational Education of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, defined the program concept of solving the scientific problem of the development of scientifically grounded approaches to the creation of a modern system of professional and methodological training of engineering and pedagogical staff. In the same year O.E. Kovalenko became the head of the Laboratory of Engineering and Pedagogical Education (UIPA-based) jointly with the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology of Professional Education of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, where she was able to unite other researchers around her scientific ideas.

Finally, this scientific school as a form of organization of collective scientific work of scientists with a single research program, common scientific views and a single style of scientific activity in a specific field was formed in 1998, when prof. O.E.Kovalenko is the Head of the Department of Pedagogy and Methods of Professional Training of UIPA, created on the basis of the Department of General and Professional Pedagogy. It is the scientific ideas of prof. O.E.Kovalenko, who allowed her to develop a clear system of methodological training of teacher-engineers, became the basis for the creation of this department.

Professor Kovalenko O.E. scientific activity was based on the new concept of professional-pedagogical training of future engineers-educators she developed. The main tenet of this concept was the provision that professional-pedagogical training of engineering-pedagogical personnel should be considered as a system that ensures the formation of competent personality of specialists of this profile, who will meet the modern requirements of customers in the labor market, represented by professional (vocational-technical educational) , technical schools and colleges. To create such a system, Professor O.E.Kovalenko developed methodological principles for determining the content of vocational and pedagogical training in accordance with the professionally determined structure of personality of specialists and determining the logic of its construction in accordance with the process of gradual formation of pedagogical competences. These components have become the basis for the formation of a new science-based list of disciplines that ensure the direct formation of each of the competencies.

At the same time, the economic and social changes that have taken place in the country have led to the need to reform engineering and pedagogical education, which trains staff for vocational (vocational-technical) educational institutions. As a creative scholar and leader, AE Kovalenko has come to the conclusion that new social realities require continuous improvement and further development of this important field of education. Having worked at that time as Rector of UIPA and being President of the National Monitoring Committee of Ukraine of the International Society for Engineering Pedagogy, Prof. O.E. Kovalenko has made a lot of efforts to activate and expand the scope of scientific research in the field of engineering pedagogy, to unite the efforts of all those who deal with such scientific problems. Thus, issues of engineering pedagogy became another area of ​​research activity of the school prof. O. Kovalenko.

he new vision of the goals and ways of training specialists in engineering and pedagogical profile required the revision of many components of the educational process. Therefore, within this scientific school, the development of a wide range of issues has begun, starting with individual teaching methods and ending with theoretical and methodological and conceptual problems of development of engineering and pedagogical education in Ukraine.

The concept of the scientific school on the role of engineering-pedagogical education is that it should be considered as a socio-economic factor for the development of the economy of the country, because it aims through the system of vocational (vocational-technical) education to revive the potential of the workforce – one of the main factors in the development of production.

According to the concept, the basic principles for building this field of education are as follows:

- engineering and pedagogical education should be the highest level of professional education;

- engineering and pedagogical education should have a stage structure and end-to-end training, which includes all educational and qualification levels;

- engineering-pedagogical education should be based on the interaction of the laws of pedagogy and the laws of development of production;

- curricula for training of specialists of different levels must meet the standards of education and be consistent, which will enable continuous training of specialists;

- the profiles of engineering-pedagogical specialties should cover the real existing circle of working professions, which are close in purpose;

- training of engineering and pedagogical personnel should be multifunctional and based on the laws of industrial development and pedagogical science;

- deep integration of technical and humanitarian knowledge in both traditional and new disciplines should be achieved.

New socio-economic conditions have caused the urgent need to revise the requirements for professional activity and personality of the engineer-teacher, to develop a scientifically-grounded list of training profiles required for Ukraine and conceptual provisions for the establishment of industry standards for higher education for engineering-pedagogical specialties, to develop organizational principles compliance with the defined professional purpose and conditions of their use in vocational education.

All these issues are being actively addressed within the scientific school on the basis of the developed concept of continuous and step education in the preparation of engineering and pedagogical staff.

The specificity of the activity of this scientific school is to focus on the practical importance of scientific development to improve the educational process, the presence of a large-scale base for experimental research and implementation of their results in the educational process, to carry out large organizational and consultative work to disseminate their scientific and methodological developments among all higher education institutions of Ukraine that train engineering and pedagogical staff, as well as in the awareness of their vidalnosti as representatives of leading higher education institutions of engineering and pedagogical direction in Ukraine for the future of this important part of education.

Today the main directions of scientific researches which are carried out within the framework of the scientific school “Methods of vocational training. Engineering Pedagogy »are:

- theoretical and methodological principles of training of engineers-teachers in new socio-economic conditions;

- optimization of the content of training;

- psychological-pedagogical and organizational support for multi-level professional education;

- didactic bases of formation of system of methodical preparation of teaching of professional disciplines;

- methodological support of continuous educational and educational process;

- new pedagogical and information technologies;

- humanization and humanization of the educational process;

- organization of independent work of students;

- methods and means of assessing students’ level of knowledge and skills;

- quality management of the educational process;

- standardization and certification in training organization;

- professional selection and adaptation problems in multilevel training of specialists.

Annually within the activity of the scientific school 12-15 research works are carried out, more than 20 scientific publications are published and 10-12 reports are made at national and international scientific and methodological conferences.

New ideas emerging from the science school are being successfully implemented and developed by many researchers across the country, testifying to the school’s leading role in engineering and pedagogical education.

In addition to conducting scientific research, the representatives of the scientific school carry out extensive organizational, methodological and educational work in order to popularize their scientific achievements and to disseminate the experience of organizing and improving the educational process under the new system of training of engineering and pedagogical staff.

The main guides and testers of the ideas of the scientific school are the scientific and pedagogical staff of the Department of Pedagogy, Methodology and Management of UIPA Education. The viability and efficiency of the new system of training engineer-pedagogues is confirmed by the experience of this department, which, due to its fruitful scientific and methodical activity, has become the leading department in Ukraine on the content of the pedagogical component of engineering-pedagogical education.

Thus, the advanced pedagogical component of the curriculum of training of engineers-pedagogues was introduced in institutions of higher engineering-pedagogical education, at engineering-pedagogical faculties and departments of technical and pedagogical institutions of higher education of Ukraine, which carry out the specified training. Developed and implemented within UIPA and other institutions of higher education of Ukraine a set of methods for improving the quality of training of engineering and pedagogical personnel, which includes: studying of engineering and communicative abilities of students, creation of a model of professional and pedagogical competence of future engineer-teacher, teaching skills – oriented and professional disciplines and more.

The department has also become basic in the preparation of regulatory documents on the reform of higher engineering and pedagogical education, provides advisory and methodological assistance to institutions of higher education and faculties of engineering and pedagogical profile on the development of normative educational documentation and disseminates the experience of development of methodological materials for the organization of training of engineering and pedagogical personnel.

Leading teachers of the department are involved in the development of conceptual provisions for the establishment of industry standards of higher education for engineering and pedagogical specialties. The UIPA curricula for various engineering and pedagogical specialties have been recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine as a base for other higher education institutions of the engineering and pedagogical field.

Another area of activity of the scientific school is the organization of scientific-practical and scientific-methodological seminars and conferences, including international ones, which are always attended by a wide range of scientists, so that the ideas of the scientific school are spread throughout the country and abroad.

The preparation of the management staff of teachers of higher education institutions of Ukraine under the IGIP program, which is carried out at UIPA, is based on curricula and methodological developments created within the scientific school.