Example of
SUCCESFUL STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

If somebody asks me "What was the most significant experience in your career?", I'll answer: "My first failure" Teaching has been my dream and lifetime vocation since my school years. However, when I graduated Kyiv State University and started my work as an English teacher at Courses of Foreign Languages, my expectations were crushed. I felt anger, disappointment and uncertainty when only one-third of students were left in my group at the end of the term. It was a turning point in my career. I realized that using teaching methods developed long ago would never allow me to become a qualified and respected teacher.

I understood the key-point of teaching: this is a constantly changing field and though there could be a general approach, it also depends on the personality of a teacher. I realized that to understand the interests of students I should "step into their shoes". So I started look for interesting information to enrich our study plans, and for other types of group work. I implemented in practice role-plays, discussions and compositions to encourage students' ability to create. Once, when we had the home-reading lesson and were staging the role-play, I was pleasantly surprised when one of my students perfectly produced the character of a golden coin. I succeeded in capturing students' attention and things turned vice versa; my students invited their friends to my lessons. I grew professionally and personally, became more patient, gained a lot of self-confidence.

My first work and my failure made me face some very important objectives that require restructuring in the system of Education of present-day Ukraine. In my opinion, the system of Education should change first in order to assist the society in its development. In Soviet Ukraine, the guideline of the governmental politics in education was co-operation and equalization. They substituted competitiveness, which is the motivating force of the progress. Transition to a market economy resulted in some changes of higher Education, but it needs further revolutionary reforms.

Primarily, this concerns the general approach to the concept of teaching. It doesn't meet the main goal of education, which is to discover bright and energetic personalities. The obsolete methods of teaching, and programs of studying specified for average students, don't take into consideration the different intellectual potential of students. On the other hand, study materials published long ago, require students to work automatically at given texts and exercises, instead of developing their ability to create and to support their opinion. Changing the methods of teaching and developing new study materials is extremely important for education.

My experience has changed my perception of teaching as a career. It requires me to deliver all my energy, knowledge and good will. I've realized that it's also a process of continuous learning, critical analysis and research. Only energetic, well-educated and highly qualified individuals are able to move education toward progress. A graduate degree in Education Administration will enable me to contribute to the educational reforms in my home country.