Focus on success: How Lviv region is building a comprehensive career guidance system in collaboration with partners
- Mar 16
- 7 min read
In Lviv region, career guidance means more than formal tests in the school psychologist’s office or talks about careers in the assembly hall. It is a comprehensive system where vocational education is modernised, becoming trendy and attractive.
Here, forums are organised for several thousand people, attended by vocational schools, businesses, communities, teenagers and their role models. Schoolchildren visit businesses, and vocational colleges organise summer camps for the youngest; pupils are inspired by examples of successful graduates, and during the days of open doors, they are given the chance to experience professions ‘first-hand’.
Vocational colleges in Lviv region have become brands – they have logos, strategies, and SMM. And communities have begun to support them, realising that without skilled workers, there can be no development.
Read our article to discover how Lviv region is transforming career guidance into a modern system with prospects, and what every community can start doing right now.
Career guidance as the foundation of the NUS reform
‘The reform of specialised secondary education provides that in 2027, pupils will go on to study at academic lyceums or vocational colleges. In order to choose what they are interested in and have a talent for, teenagers in Grades 8-9 need to learn about different professions and career development opportunities in practice. This presents new challenges for communities and schools. Actually, without high-quality career guidance for pupils, informed choices are out of the question,’ notes Valentyna Poltorak, DECIDE Project Manager.
The essence of the changes lies in the child’s right to choose their own educational path. For this reason, career guidance must begin at the latest in Grades 8-9.
‘Career guidance courses in various countries are usually included in the school curriculum in Grades 8–9, and sometimes even from Grade 5. It involves not only psychological tests and studying the labour market, but also field trips and multi-day work placements at companies, which gives students the opportunity to explore the world of professions so that by Grade 9 they can decide on their future academic profile or profession at a vocational or technical college,’ explains Valentyna Poltorak.
In Lviv region, career guidance is referred to as a ‘survival scanner’. Ivan Pykus, Head of the Vocational and Higher Education Division at the Department of Education and Science of the Lviv Regional State Administration, believes that career guidance is a must, not just an option: ‘In Lviv region, there are refurbished vocational colleges with low enrolment. Why? Failed career guidance. Educational institutions must be creative to remain competitive. For over five years now, we have been working hard to ensure that children do not think of vocational colleges as “boarding houses”, but realise that a skilled tiler earns UAH 1,000 per square metre. Companies are willing to pay decent wages for skilled professions,’ says Ivan Pykus.
Role of DECIDE Project: from teacher to career mentor
A key element in establishing career guidance in Lviv region is cooperation with the Swiss-Ukrainian DECIDE Project, which helps communities take a proactive approach – starting as early as secondary school. Valentyna Poltorak explains the paradigm shift, ‘A teacher cannot tell children about every profession that exists today. They must be their partner in this search. In fact, career counsellors help children identify their strengths; together with the community’s career coordinator, they plan visits to vocational colleges and excursions to various companies, and organise joint events aimed at career guidance.’
Thanks to the Project, teachers undergo a four-month training programme with mentors trained by DECIDE experts, based on programmes adapted from the University of Zurich’s Faculty of Education. The partner communities can rely on DECIDE for all aspects of career guidance. These include:
Working with communities. At the community level, career coordinators are trained – staff from education departments or centres for the professional development of teaching staff who identify opportunities to develop cooperation between schools and businesses, for example, through excursions and work placements at local enterprises.
Grant support. The most active communities will receive grants of UAH 300,000 to set up career guidance hubs – spaces where children can get hands-on experience of various professions. Project experts will also train community teams in project management, help them design their hub model and bring it to life.
Today, cooperation is growing closer: businesses and vocational colleges regularly visit schools, and vocational colleges visit schools. In Lvivska community, pupils from some schools attend vocational training lessons directly at vocational colleges.
For example, Zolochiv Vocational College and Halych Agricultural and Construction College regularly visit schools: they meet with the children, bring their products and hold workshops. They often travel to other regions to carry out career guidance work, for example, to Zakarpattia and Ternopil regions.
Moreover, vocational colleges are introducing innovative formats, such as the ‘Martsypan’ day camp: the Lviv College of Hotel, Tourism and Restaurant Services organises this every summer for pre-school and primary school children. Over the course of two weeks, children are taught how to make cakes, burgers and cards, and are introduced to English and financial literacy.
The ‘Lviv Formula’: how to scale the experience to other regions
The experience of Lviv region is not limited to successful events, but involves a methodology that other regions can adopt. Ivan Pykus highlights several key steps for building an effective system at the regional level:
Moving away from sporadic presentations. The region should promote the brand of vocational education as a whole, rather than just a few lyceums or colleges.
‘Moreover, every community with a vocational college should understand that it is a “mini-enterprise” which contributes between UAH 1.5 and 3 million in personal income tax to the local budget each year. Students and teachers spend money in local shops, rent accommodation, and eventually become new entrepreneurs in the community. Communities in Lviv region are already actively involving vocational colleges in meeting their needs,’ says Ivan Pykus.
Large-scale youth career guidance events as a tool for breaking down stereotypes. In October 2024, Lviv region hosted the large-scale youth forum ‘Vibe’, which brought together around 4,000 participants from all 73 communities in the region. The event provided a platform for direct dialogue between businesses, educational institutions, and young people. Key organisers of the forum, alongside the Lviv Regional State Administration and business communities, included international partners, such as DECIDE Project.
The forum was held with the slogan ‘Stay at home, don’t leave’. Its format included: dedicated areas where vocational colleges and companies presented their services and identified opportunities for further collaboration; practical zones where employers, together with educational institutions, demonstrated the specifics of various professions – from barbering to operating agricultural drones; meetings between successful entrepreneurs and students; and discussions on career guidance strategies for representatives of communities.
‘We wanted to organise a big event so that students could see that vocational education is both modern and promising,’ explains Ivan Pykus, the event’s organiser.
Teachers say this format has helped teenagers see blue-collar professions in a new light and experience the excitement of vocational training.
Fostering creativity of educational institutions
‘Whatever we do, if individual educational institutions fail to engage in career guidance, they will disappear. Communities must encourage their institutions to be competitive and appealing to teenagers,’ says Ivan Pykus.
Engaging businesses as donors and mentors. In Lviv region, companies are becoming co-creators of the educational landscape. For example, MetalWorkShop donated a CNC machine worth over UAH 2 million to a vocational college so that students could learn on the same equipment used in real-world production.
Demonstrating real-world experience. Vocational colleges organise unusual days of open doors for schoolchildren.
‘It is fantastic when vocational colleges use these opportunities to discuss not only their educational philosophy but also how to build a career path. For example, they show a child a modern training and practical centre, explain that they already have new technologies for manufacturing putty, show a toilet worth EUR 5,000, and say, “We’ll teach you how to install it – and you’ll earn EUR 1,000 for the job!”,’ says Ivan Pykus.
To fill in the gaps, employers joined in on the days of open doors.
‘Then employers, such as Kapitel, say, “Have you been to the Emily Resort hotel and leisure complex? We were involved in its construction and refurbishment. Come to us for work experience – and we will give you a tour. And we also built a swimming pool on the 9th floor in Bukovel.” All of this is inspiring. After that, an interactive session takes place; for example, students can try working with trowels, a welding machine, try changing tyres, spin a wheel, and so on. Naturally, all within safety guidelines,’ says Ivan Pykus.
Schoolchildren also visit a variety of businesses. In Lviv, this is the most common practice, as the city is large and has many businesses located nearby. Children have the opportunity to visit garment factories, such as Grehori Textile. They often visit various businesses in the food sector, where the children are invited to participate in workshops, for example, on making pizza or pastries.
For other regions, this experience means acting as intermediaries between the labour market and schools. At the regional level, education and economic departments must be trained to build partnerships between business, education, and authorities.
Creation of new modern jobs in vocational colleges
New qualifications have also been introduced for automotive computer diagnostics technicians, stained-glass artists, photographers, and videographers.
‘We have to realise that from 2027 onwards, the number of ninth-graders who will be full of enthusiasm and facing the question ‘What next?’ will increase. And only through effective career guidance can we encourage more children to choose vocational education,’ concludes Ivan Pykus.
Proper career guidance is a marathon, not a sprint. It is a system that lays the foundations for 2027, when choosing a direction in Grade 9 will be a conscious decision. Only by combining the efforts of education, business, and authorities can we build a system where every teenager can explore different career paths. And most importantly, they will be able to decide what they want to do and understand where to look for opportunities for education, and later for employment, in their region.
The DECIDE project is implemented by NGO DOCCU and PHZH International Projects in Education with the support of the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine.