SCHOOL LITERARY EDUCATION IN UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS FROM THE 1990S TO THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

The article presents a comprehensive study of the transformations of school literary education in Ukraine in the context of socio-political changes from the 1990s to the first quarter of the 21st century. The author examines how the content of literary education has changed under the influence of independence, modernization processes, the course toward European integration, and the state of war, as well as how the literary canon, pedagogical approaches, teaching methodology, and the role of literature as a humanitarian instrument for the formation of values have been transformed.
Four key periods are analyzed: 1991 – 2000 (post-Soviet search for identity), 2001 – 2013 (modernization and the European vector), 2014 – 2022 (reassessment and decolonization), and since 2022 onward (literary education under the conditions of a full-scale war). Changes in the school canon are examined, including the gradual departure from Russian literature, the reinterpretation of classical works, and the emphasis on human rights, national dignity, freedom, and resistance. Methodological transformations are also explored, particularly the shift from an authoritarian-reproductive approach to a facilitative-competence-based one, as well as the active use of interpretive reading, debates, media literacy, and psychological integration.
Particular attention is paid to the challenges faced by the educational process after 2022, including changes in learning formats (distance, blended, and shelter-based learning), reconsideration of the role of literature as a means of supporting students under conditions of stress, and the inclusion in curricula of contemporary works that resonate with the experience of war. Literature increasingly performs the function of a space for the safe comprehension of complex realities and for the development of emotional intelligence and social sensitivity.
The article actualizes the problem of the formation of the school canon as a social construct that reflects not only aesthetic criteria but also social ideals and historical experience. The author concludes that school literary education in Ukraine has gradually become a space not merely for the acquisition of knowledge, but also for dialogue, reflection, cultural memory, and humanitarian resilience. The prospects for further research in the field of humanitarian education under conditions of social challenges and postcolonial deconstruction are also outlined.