Under the conditions of the development of the independent Ukrainian state, the formation of national consciousness by means of socialization of a person, manifestation of his/her potential opportunities in the educational process, especially in the course of education and selfeducation becomes the defining factor. Therefore, the formation of the content of the basic elements of patriotic education of younger generation requires special attention. This can be achieved upon condition of understanding the leading educational ideal for which everyone should strive and which, in fact, causes the leading pur - po se of education.

The necessity of justification of the theoretical bases of patriotic education of preschool children is generally caused by the current state and the existing problems in social and economic, spiritual and other spheres of society functioning, the strengthening of the role of a human factor in the development of our state, the need of cardinal increase in efficiency of educational work with children on the basis of the national idea, ideals, value orientations, historical traditions of Ukrainian people. At the same time, it is necessary to find out the essence and the content of such pedagogical categories as “patriotism”, “education”, “educational ideal" and to consider social and psychological features of the personality development of preschool children.

Patriotism, as a unique phenomenon, is thoroughly investigated by scientists, public figures, politicians and cultural workers of Ukraine and other states. Among them it is possible to mention V. Vynnychenko, O. Dukhnovych, M. Hrushevskyi, A. Makarenko, H. Skovoroda, V. Sukhomlynskyi, K. Ushynskyi, I. Franko, T. Shevchenko, etc.

In the Ukrainian pedagogical dictionary patriotism is considered as “one of the deepest civil feelings, the content of which is love of the Motherland, devotion to its people, pride in the achievements of national culture. It is directed to all-round development of the country, the protection of its interests" [6, p.249]. The concept “a patriot" (from Greek “patriots" - the fellow countryman, the compatriot) characterizes the person who loves his/her Motherland, is devoted to the people, ready to make a sacrifice for the sake of his/her Homeland [16, p.720]. At the present time, different approaches to understanding the essence of patriotism have been developed by Ukrainian scientists. For example, P. Onyshchuk considers it as a feeling [11], V. Kaiukov as one of the moral qualities of a person [8].

The most reasonable conceptual approaches were developed by M. Boryshevskyi and T. Anikina. The first researcher considers patriotism as “a value, which is embodied in selfless love to the native land, its people, the Motherland. The personality, who is a patriot, roots for the fate of his/her Motherland, experiences an effective need to devote all his/her efforts to serving compatriots, his/her own nation” [4, p. 202]. T. Anikina accurately characterized this phenomenon as “a complex integrative quality of an individual, which contains emotional and sensual, intellectual and activity components” [1, p.7].

Interesting, in our opinion, are also views of the pedagogue N. Yemuzova who marks out several aspects of education under modern conditions: “education” as the transmitting of values; “education” as formation of the relations; “education” as creation of conditions for selfrealization of a personality. The researcher fairly notes that the person, who is being developed, cannot be considered as an object of educational influences, he/she should be considered as a subject that passes the stages of self-development, self-knowledge, self-determination, self-education, and an educator, in a broad sense of this word, should help with it [7, p.16-17]. The author reasonably considers the concept “value” as one of the key concepts of modern social thought, which is of fundamental importance in the process of studying the problems of education.

Among the Ukrainian specialists, the views of such scientists-educators are convincing: I. Bekh, who has made the psychological analysis of educational practice, has developed psychological bases of the directed formation of a personality [2; 3]. The author has proved person-centred approach in education, which, as the scientist notes, is called upon". essential humanizing of educational process, filling it with high moral and spiritual experiences, establishing the relations of justice and respect, revealing potential opportunities of a person as much as possible, stimulating his/her personality developing creativity” [2, p.33]; A. Kyrychuk who considers pedagogical interaction as a system-forming element of educational process, and education - as a “self-developing open system, which has the multisubjective mutually developing character”, when". in the pedagogical process not only children are developing, but also the subjects of educational influence themselves, and not only educational activity, but also the system of personal interaction, that is something bigger, than a set of separate components” [9, p.3334]. The interpretation of the concept “education” contains close interrelation with national and state components. For example, M. Boryshevskyi notes that “ [n] ational consciousness is an important component of civil consciousness and self-awareness of a personality”. At the same time, in the formation of the latter, an important role is played by the personality's awareness of “. belonging to a certain ethnos, nation” [4, p.189, 200].

I. Pidlasyi considers that education must take the central place in society,". to be controlled by the state, and the main priority in the state. To give it to public, party or some other organizations means to risk statehood, independence, prosperity of the nation” [12, p.7]. In this case, the civil education can be considered wider than the national one. With this approach, the role of national education is not decreased in any way: along with the preservation of the influence of non-state subjects, the state character of education, its compulsoriness, responsibility of the state for its organization and carrying out is actualized. At the same time, the management of the educational system, in our opinion, will be more effective. Similar approach is observed in the National program of patriotic education of the population, the formation of healthy lifestyle, strengthening of moral bases of the society, which has provided the development of the concept of civil education “. as the process of mastering the national and universal values by a personality, formation of patriotism, responsibility for destiny of the nation, the state”; in I. Bekh and Yu. Rymarenko's works [3; 13], etc.

So, in most sources, the unifying factor of civil and national education is the correlation of their purposes: the formation of a nationally conscious citizen - the patriot of Ukraine, a comprehensively and harmoniously developed personality, for whom the serving to his/her country is an internal need.

The analysis of the modern approaches of scientists shows that the phenomenon of education is considered by them as an extremely important social and pedagogical phenomenon, which is the defining factor of influence on the process of forming the personality of a Ukrainian citizen.

It is well known that morality is one of the most important forms of social consciousness that fills the whole process of society's activity by acting as a regulator of human behavior in all spheres of life; and value orientations are one of the most important formations in the consciousness and self-consciousness of a person that determine a number of his/her essential characteristics as an individual. According to it, the statement of the domestic scientist P. Sytnyk deserves attention, as he fairly notes that". the underdevelopment of morality hinders civilizational progress, and its degradation inevitably leads to frustration and the death of the society" [15, p.135].

The defining values, according to T. Mishenina, are those which reflect the essence of the national community, create such a life space that is habitual for a personality, serve as a factor of self-determination of a member of the community, who identifies him-/herself with it and is guided by the system of national values in the search for his/her own way of life or choosing the main directions of life's activity. We share the author's opinion that spirituality of a personality provides the high level of ideological conviction of a person, the formation of confidence in the importance and vital necessity of civil values, etc. [10].

The national system of education actively uses the developments of specialists in the field of patriotic education (A. Aleksiuk, I. Bekh, O. Vyshnevskyi, Ya. Hnutel, P. Kononenko, V. Maiboroda, M. Stelmakhovych), who consider fostering patriotism as the formation of a comprehensive and harmoniously developed, educated, nationally conscious person with the established civil position, patriotic feelings, cultural wealth.

Fostering patriotism is based on person's deep experiences of love and attachment to the culture, the people, the earth [14, p.58]. As scientific sources testify, patriotism arises under the condition of transformation of external conditions of life and internal, deep motives of behavior and worldview into the supreme, solid personal values. Therefore it is extremely necessary for a modern pedagogue to consider present tendencies for implementation of the program of patriotic education under the conditions of formation and development of the statehood. For today, V. Sukhomlynsky's view of patriotism as “a core of a person”, a basis for his/her active position, has not lost its deep meaning [17, p.29].

Today the Ukrainian society is at the stage of continuous restructuring and radical changes, in the field of education in particular. So, in our opinion, it would be quite appropriate to build the education system, including preschool education, on the basis of a deep sense of patriotism in children, because active patriotism provides active involvement in the problems of the society, taking into account its interests, hopes, and so on. Considering this, patriotism can act as a dominant factor in combining social efforts in creation of the new Ukrainian idea.

The main objective of patriotic education, according to the researcher T. Mishenin, is the organized process of pedagogical influence on the personality of a preschool child targeted at the formation of patriotic feelings and national consciousness through a priority of national values, which provides devotion to the Homeland, readiness for self-sacrifice, respect of history of the people, their traditions, beliefs, etc. [10].

Cultural wealth as a component of the system of universal values actively influences the humanization of the society, maintains the national existence through science, literature, religion, various arts, behavior, etc., through which a child develops his/her personal experience. Therefore, universal values are interrelated with the national and cultural traditions of the Ukrainians, which is a link between the past and the future experience of the ethnos, an important component in the transformation of population into a nation and as the highest step into the universal community.

Proceeding from the foregoing, we think that on this basis an image of the ideal Ukrainian is formed. It is also noted by the researchers. In particular, H. Vashchenko, when analyzing the relationship in the formation of the nation and the ideal, noted that the nation itself is formed on the basis of traditions and the educational ideal of the Ukrainian people, and the ideal is reflected in customs, rituals, and national art. The pedagogue, while revealing a significant role in revival of national traditions, an educational ideal of the Ukrainian ethnos, its folk art, art and literature, emphasized that “as the traditional ideal it is necessary to recognize the one that has learned lessons of history, mostly corresponds to psychology of the people, has entered mentality of the masses of people, is reflected in folk art and in works of the best artists and writers who have become spiritual guides of the people” [5, p.104].

Cultural wealth can be classified according to the approach offered by M. Boryshevskyi:

1) moral values (kindness, justice, tolerance, sincerity, mutual respect, self-esteem, responsibility, fidelity to principles and active opposition, irreconcilable relation to the opposite phenomena; mutual aid and mutual assistance);

2) civil values (patriotism, worries for destiny of the Homeland);

3) intellectual values (ability to think critically and self-critically, ability to have one's own objective estimates, views of various life phenomena, of a person him-/herself, sense of his/her life - as the guarantee of ability for an independent choice);

4) esthetic values (development of esthetic tastes, ability to differentiate the true noble beauty from cheap imitations, platitudes, sense of beauty);

5) ecological values (deep awareness of invaluable significance of the environment in activity of any person and society in general, careful attitude to the nature, the developed need to protect it from unreasonable and dangerous influences) [4; 14].

Conclusions