The problems of pedagogical continuity in the vertical links system in the new conception of the ’’gymnasium“ (i. e. a four-year secondary school corresponding roughly to the upper forms of the G ram m ar School in Britain or Senior High School in the USA) are reflected in a new conception of education from the first to the fourth year. For the time being, however, this aspects is being pushed through more in the structure of content than in the structure of didactic means, especially methods of educational work.
One of the prerequisistes for a wider use of vertical continuity is a corresponding conception of pedagogical documents and didactics materials.
In the research an analysis was made of syllabuses and methodological teachers’ books for gymnasiums created in the new conception and verified at experimental schools. The primary object of the research was the system of vertical links in methods from the viewpoints of continuity advancem ent and efficaciousness.
The results of the analysis have shown that the syllabuses as well as m ethodological handbooks do reflect the main demands on modernization of the educational process, but there are still shortcomings in the elaboration of the didactic system, in the conception of methods in relation to concrete aims and tasks and in the system of methods from the viewpoint of vertical continuity.
In order to improve the function of syllabuses and handbooks in the educational process it will be necessary, besides other things, to pay more attention to the application of vertical continuity in the broader complex of an integrated didactic system and to the use of the latest knowledge in the theory of creation of basis pedagogical documents and didactic materials.