An Educational Text as a Method to Fix the Axiological Competency in the Educational Content of a Textbook (As Exemplified by Disciplines of the Basic Education Curriculum)

The aim of the article is to present the results of an experimental study on the secondary school learners' core competencies development. The author has worked out a system of didactic tools for the development of secondary school learners' core competencies, namely, a set of educational texts and tasks, a teacher's guide on the application of the set and a package of diagnostic methods for assessing the level of school learners' core competencies formation. The following methods have been employed: theoretical analysis of pedagogical literature, modeling, lesson observation, learners' questionnaire, pilot testing, quantitative and qualitative comparative analysis of experimental data. At Stage One, the content of core competencies components have been specified; the criteria and relevant indicators for revealing the dynamics of the core competencies development have been determined. Knowledge, instrumental and motivational criteria have been used. The group of indicators for the knowledge criterion has been targeted toward the content of the informational component. The instrumental criterion has been formed by the degree of autonomy and the level of consciousness in the learner's realization of skills constituting the pragmatist component of the axiological competency. The motivation criterion has been diagnosed in terms of learners' moral development. At Stage Two, school textbooks' content has been analyzed in accordance with the amended composition of core competencies. The results of the analysis allow to conclude that core competencies are beyond textbook authors' areas of concern. Stage Three consisted of establishing design characteristics of educational texts for the purposeful core competencies development. School textbooks on Geography, Social Studies, English and Russian have been used. Stage Four was to develop and validate the fixation methods in the educational content of a textbook and to analyze learners' diagnostic data. The conclusion is based on the outcomes of the pilot testing of didactic tools assessment. In developing school learners' core competencies through the didactic tools proposed, favourable conditions are created for mastering these competencies purposefully, in line with the educational orientation. Comparative research results of experimental education in control and pilot classes have vividly demonstrated the conclusion.

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