METHODOLOGICAL BASIS OF STYDYING HISTORY OF MARITIME EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH OF UKRAINE (ХVІІІ – ХХІ CENTURIES)

Introduction. The quality of historical pedagogical research essentially depends on applied means and methods of scholar's scientific activity, their adopted methodology. Fully this statement concerns the study of history of maritime education in Ukraine (ХVІІІ – ХХІ cent.) while methodology to the full extent predetermines means of acquiring scientific knowledge in specific circumstances of scientific study. Purpose. The purpose of the research is a certain scientific problem – existing contradiction which is to be solved. To most scholars' mind, selecting a problem and validating the topic of the research are complicated and demanding steps which require the following acts: formulating a problem; defining a structure of this problem (aspects, components); appointing its applicability i.e. significance. Methods. When selecting means, a scholar relies on the methodology of scientific research – provisions of such management logic which allows defining an objective of the research, its target and subject, the approaches and cues of study organization; singling out the methods and means which lead to the most favorable results. Three means of acquiring knowledge are widely known. They are empiric (cut-and-try approach), rigorous (building mathematical models and solution of correspondent equations), and intuitive (suggesting a supposition – hypothesis – which is afterwards tested. Results. The combination of contextual and formal approaches gives an opportunity to study historical events and outline facts for further analysis, synthesis, and abstracting; establishing causative-consecutive relations between them. The combination of logical and historical approaches provides the study of every historical pedagogical phenomenon in its development as well as its status in a certain historical period. Originality. The scientific originality of research results is viewed in reaching the following tasks: 1. To analyze the development of maritime education in Ukraine, define the stages of its establishment and basic characteristics. 2. To identify the influence of socio-economic and political factors on the formation, establishment, and development of maritime educational system in the southern Ukraine. 3. To substantiate theoretical methodological aspects of the contemporary system of secondary and higher maritime education. 4. To explain the essence and content of basic categories and notions connected with the training of specialists in the system of maritime education and define the methodological basis of the strategic planning of their training. 5. To give theoretical proofs for basic ways of using positive experience in the further development of maritime education in Ukraine. Conclusion. Hence, the methodology of a research is considered as a ground for managing a scientific study. It is established that such an activity should be cyclic and consist of clearly determined and logically built acts.