IDEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND IN DEFINING THE CHILD’S PLAY SPACE

Abstract

The education sector as a state institution has always reflected the ideological foundations of state policy, and the form of state organization and governance determined the priorities of the state’s educational process. The key idea in the situation of the establishment of the independence of the Ukrainian state was the national ideology, integrated with general civilizational spiritual guidelines, fundamental values, as one of the most important foundations of the formation of the national consciousness of the citizen of the state, the creation and strengthening of the national-state identity in the consciousness of the people. The toy acts as a prism through which citizens try to look into the future through the projection of the child’s activity. Through game actions and game roles, the child establishes in his activities and behavior the projection of his future social activity. That is why the toy in times of heightened ideological life of society was the subject of focused attention. Attention to children’s toys in the times of Soviet ideology is clearly visible. State bodies acted as customers and regulators for the formation and stimulation of ideologically correct norms for the production of the assortment and consumption of children’s toys. So, the history of the creation of toys, and more precisely the rather rigid ideological pressure on their production in the Soviet period, should provide us with important lessons and encourage us to think about extremely acute problems of modern education that require meaningful responsibility. The dominant opinion in studies of educational ideology is to direct it to the combination of national and European in the education of Ukraine, which requires in-depth study of the national educational experience and a generalized vision of European educational traditions and features. The vast majority of scientists of the educational*ideological discourse connect the specified problem with national*patriotic education. The process of de-ideologization of “Soviet” content in the game industry” and in education in general shows that the ideological dimension for the creation of a new Ukrainian toy remains relevant. In the search for ways to form the national, civic, and cultural identity of preschool children, a national and at the same time modern toy plays an unparalleled role. The choice of its characteristics and evaluation criteria is again ideologically motivated by the values of society and, in particular, education. The article presents the results of interviewing the participants of the scientific and methodological seminar “Toy as a means of ideological influence” regarding the toy as a means of patriotic education and the attitude towards the military toy. The analyzed positions of the authors argue for the search and discussion of modern guidelines and general issues of the presence of ideology in education, in particular, the presence of ideology in the plane of the playing space in which the child grows up. The national educational idea needs clear and accessible statements in which the dreams, hopes, and expectations of society’s citizens for a dignified, free, happy life can be traced. Designing such an educational idea, in our opinion, cannot be obtrusive and wordy.