Perhaps the main objective of vocational-technical education in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic today is to train middle-level managers and agricultural workers to take part in the republic's comprehensive program to accelerate its social and economic development. Secondary agricultural institutions called sovkhoz-technicums have played an important role in upgrading the quality of training provided to specialists in agriculture. Students being trained as agricultural specialists are also given training in general subjects and especially in biology. Ecological education and an interdisciplinary approach are also at the center of the movement to improve vocational-technical education. Active teaching methods, including problem solving, brainstorming, computer-assisted instruction, olympiads, and group and individual tutorials, coupled with increased use of audiovisual teaching aids, are being encouraged. Since 1987, teachers of general subjects at technical schools have had to improve their professional skills at regional advanced teacher training institutes. Efforts are under way to create a unified system of general secondary education throughout the republic and establish a closer relationship between general secondary and vocational education. (MN)