The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the methodological approaches and preliminary findings of a research project aiming to conceptualize and systematize the results of a comparative analysis of the current state of education in Great Britain, France, Germany, transformation of their education models in the context of innovative development of modern society. The task is to reveal the essence of the innovative education modeland outline ways of its implementation in Europe and Ukraine. The main questions raised in the research are why the transition to innovations in educationcan be an adequate response to civilizational challenges and whether the international experience of transition to the innovative education model is particularly useful in reforming the Ukrainian educational system.

The theoretical structure of the study comprises positions of philosophy of education (M. Apple, N. Burbules, A. Torres), education policies (J. Delors, D. Hill, A. Green, B. Levin), theory of education (Y. Cheng, J. Bruner, M. Fullan, J. Knight), as also documents of UNESCO, European Counsel, CEDEFOP, OECD.

Through the analysis of the theory and practice of education in theUK,France,GermanyandUkraine, the study focused on the following aspects:

- What are the factors of transition to innovative education?

- Do the state education policies ofGermany,France,Great BritainandUkrainecontain educational and political innovations?

- What are the differences between the traditional and innovative education models?

- What forms of innovative education are the most promising?

- Transition to innovative education model in Ukraine: implementation of European experience.

It has been found that significant changes take place at all levels of the educational systems ofGermany,Franceand theUK, including the education policy making level which defines the strategic priorities for further development of education. The methodology of vertical functional review allowed determining the differences and common features of education policies of these countries.Ukraine’s awareness of the need of transition to innovative education is expressed in Laws ofUkraine“On Innovative Activities”, the project “Education Innovation for Wellbeing Improvement and Poverty Reduction” which became catalysts of innovative changes in education.

The study of education paradigms and education models allowed us to determine the origins of innovations in education, find out the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and innovative education models. Comprehension of the nature of innovative education and expert survey results show that innovative education is focused on dynamic changes in the surroundings and encourages innovative changes in cultural and social environment, creates the conditions for the formation of an innovative person. According to experts, the transformation of the learning process should be aimed at transition from reproductive to creative learning, development of innovative curricula and learning technologies.

A promising way of attracting investments to the field of education is to create research universities and technology parks that strengthen the relationship between science and education. It has been found that three major strategies of creating research universities are used: breadth-strategy, depth-strategy, breadth-depth-strategy. European research universities prefer breadth-strategy. The number of universities has significantly grown since independence inUkraine.Ukraineis represented in the “QS World University Rankings 2013/14” by only four universities.

Technology parks are often based on universities and research centers. The distinctive feature of their functioning is social partnership between government, local authorities, private companies and universities. One of the reasons for decline of technology parks inUkraineis absence of government financial support.

The importance of the European experience of transition to the innovative education model as also possibilities and ways of its implementation in Ukraine in the process of joining the European educational space were defined.

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