Postgraduate education of the managers of school general educational institutions: challenges in the historical dimension of development

Scientists' approaches regarding the definition of the main stages of the development of postgraduate pedagogical education and the features of the development of postgraduate pedagogical education of managerial staff of general secondary education have been analyzed in the article. The expediency of applying to the acquired pedagogical experience in improving the qualifications of school principals before 1991 has been substantiated. Having characterized the various stages of the formation and development of postgraduate pedagogical education, it has been found that the identification of positive and negative trends in the improvement of the qualifications of school principals allows us to come to the conclusion about the need to understand them in the context of modernization of modern postgraduate pedagogical education. It has been updated that the transformational processes in the system of postgraduate pedagogical education of managerial personnel should take place on the basis of thorough scientific and theoretical developments. As a result of the analysis of scientific sources, it has been found that during the second half of the 20th century, reforms took place in education, that by the mid-80s of the 20th century, through evolutionary changes in the organization of professional development of leading pedagogical personnel, a complete social system of postgraduate pedagogical education was formed, which had features regarding the professional development of school principals. The peculiarities of the development of postgraduate education of school heads of general secondary education institutions in the context of the development of the national education system and, accordingly, postgraduate pedagogical education from the day of the adoption of the Act of Proclamation of Independence of Ukraine (August 24, 1991) have been described. On the basis of the characterised stages of the development of the national system of education and postgraduate education, in particular, in the National Report on the State of Education in Ukraine to the 30th Anniversary of Ukraine's Independence (National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, 2021), the author's vision of the periodization of the development of postgraduate pedagogical education as a component of education, in particular adult education, has been proposed. The normative and legal regulation of the postgraduate education system and directions for its improvement, the definition of the essence of the concepts of "adult education", "postgraduate education", "specialization", "retraining", "qualification improvement", "internship" and "continuing professional development" have been analyzed. The main events in the formation of the normative basis of postgraduate education of school principals of general secondary education institutions have been outlined. The history of the creation and special mission of the Central Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education, State Higher Education Institution "University of Education Management" of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine have been highlighted regarding the professional development of managerial, pedagogical and scientific-pedagogical workers in the system of postgraduate pedagogical education, as well as such innovative institutions initiated by the University as the Consortium of Postgraduate Education Institutions and the Ukrainian Open University of Postgraduate Education. Problematic issues and author's proposals concerning the development of postgraduate pedagogical education of school heads of general secondary education institutions in the context of the development of education in Ukraine and postgraduate pedagogical education, in particular, in the context of the challenges of globalization and world integration processes, the pandemic and martial law (from February 24, 2022), have been outlined.