The article is devoted to the analysis of didactic ideas and views on education of the Transcarpathian teacher-educator Oleksandr Dukhnovych. The relevance of the scientist’s pedagogical heritage and the importance of its contextual study are emphasized. Three main aspects are substantiated, which testify to the expediency of introducing certain ideas into the educational process of professional training of modern students – future teachers. Firstly, O. Duhnovich as a teacher was formed in the traditions of the European humanistic philosophy of his predecessors Vittorino de Feltre, T. Campanella, J. Comenius, M. Montaigne, etc. His legacy reflects the ideas of Western European enlightenment, which is based on the ideals of humanism and goodness. On the basis of comparative analysis, the thesis of Augustine Voloshin that “O. Duhnovich as a teacher was formed under the direct influence of the famous Swiss scientist G. Pestalozzi” is proven. The content of individual works of O. Duhnovich and G. Pestalozzi is revealed and parallels are traced in the views of scientists on the purpose of school and the peculiarities of family education, on the Christian values ​​of goodness and justice as effective means of restructuring society on reasonable principles. Secondly, the contextual study of the heritage of the educator is explained by the relevance of those educational ideas of O. Dukhnovych and his contemporaries, which were later reflected in numerous theories of reformist pedagogy of the 19th century. and were used as an empirical basis for understanding and new interpretation of the processes of learning, upbringing and their influence on the harmonious development of the child's personality, and then formed into a whole series of scientific concepts: free upbringing (M. Montessori); pedagogical pragmatism (J. Dewey); experimental pedagogy (E. Mayman); school for life (O. Decroly); functional pedagogy (E. Clapared); pedagogy of the personality (E. Weber); absolute freedom of students (A. Neil). The reformist movement entered world pedagogy under the name "New Education", and the mentioned theories have enriched and continue to enrich the achievements of world didactics and the theory of education to our time. Thirdly, the humanistic in content pedagogy of O. Dukhnovych is contextually consonant with the views on education and upbringing of famous Ukrainian scientists, philosophers, teachers and writers of different generations: H. Vashchenko, A. Voloshyn, V. Dovhovych, S. Rusova, H. Skovoroda, V. Sukhomlynsky, I. Franko, P. Yurkevich and others. O. Dukhnovych, like his contemporaries – M. Shashkevych, I. Vahylevich, Ya. Holovatsky, M. Ustyyanovych, A. Mohylnytsky, I. Hushalevych – actively participated in the cultural revival of the 19th century, one of the tasks of which was to establish the Ukrainian language of teaching and upbringing and required the compilation of primers based on the material of the living Ukrainian language, the development of textbooks for public schools, and methodological manuals for teachers.