The article presents the results of the analysis of school biology textbooks for 9th grade, related to their ability to form cause – effect relationships in students of general secondary education in biology lessons. Causality is presented as a connection between events, where one event is the cause and the other is the consequence. The analysis of biology textbooks on the possibility of forming cause-and-effect relationships was carried out according to the following criteria: structuring the main content of the textbook, its systematization and classification; the use of terms and concepts that form the foundation of each subject, act as the main form of knowledge and thinking of students in the subject area; types of tasks as mandatory components of the methodological apparatus of the biology textbook. Analysis of biology textbooks gives grounds to conclude that each of them has certain features, forms, methods that contribute to the formation of students’ cause-effect relationships. However, in no textbook we have not observed a comprehensive construction of content based on the disclosure of cause and effect relationships of biological processes, natural phenomena. The problem of selection and selection of the main, establishing causal links between the structure and function of objects and processes in biology textbooks needs to be studied and solved. Building the content of the textbook on the basis of causal relationships will contribute to the formation of causal thinking, more effective study of the subject, its unloading, the ability of students to correlate causal relationships in natural processes with their own lives.

The article presents the results of a research of the features of the motivational sphere of of the administrators (principals and their assistants) of Institutions of general secondary education, conducted by the Chair of Educational Leadership of Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University in October-November 2021. This was a pilot phase of the study, which covered 208 people holding senior positions in secondary schools in Kyiv. The purpose of the pilot phase was to study the motivational sphere of managers, which involves identifying the most common motives, the ratio of internal and external motivation of respondents, the dynamics of changes in motivational complexes depending on seniority, as well as the interaction of motives with their attitude to innovation in education. Regarding the tasks, the method «Motivation of professional activity» by K. Zamfir in a modification of A. Rean, was chosen. The research showed that the most important motives of professional activity for the leaders of secondary schools are: satisfaction with the process and results of their work; opportunities for self-realization in management; the receiving of adequate monetary remuneration for their work. The key determining factor for the respondents is the internal motivation for the managerial activity. Internal motivation remains dominant throughout the period of activity. Most respondents have a positive attitude towards innovation, combined with a high level of internal motivation. A further perspective of the study may be the creation of an appropriate psycho-correctional program aimed at increasing internal motivation and further improving the reform steps in the field of education. Also, a separate task may be to study the dynamics of the motivational sphere under the influence of the challenges of the war in Ukraine.