Taras Shevchenko's Poetry in Psychometric Measurement of External Independent Assessment (To the Problem of Literary Education at School)

Abstract

The article, based on materials from official reports of the Ukrainian Center for Education Quality Assessment for 2008–2021 and 2024, traces the amplitude of the level of knowledge of Taras Shevchenko's poetry among students of secondary schools. The results of the test tasks showed serious problems with the study of lyrical and lyrical-epic works, in particular the poems "Haydamaki", "Dream" ("Everyone has their own fate..."), "Caucasus", the message "To the dead and to the living...", etc. Despite the fact that most of these tasks belonged to the optimal category, they turned out to be difficult for a significant number of applicants who were unable to correctly answer elementary questions. The author of the study concluded that the participants in the external independent assessment were not sufficiently familiar with the short program on Ukrainian literature. They do not read or know how to analyze literary texts, cannot think logically, do not distinguish Shevchenko's poetry from other poetic works, and instead try to guess the correct answer. Since Ukrainian literature lost its status as a mandatory test, students' interest in this subject has sharply decreased, and it has ceased to be an important factor in the national-patriotic education of young people.