Romny hosted a workshop “Reform of specialised senior secondary education: Opportunities and challenges for the community”

On 2 June, a workshop “Reform of specialised senior secondary education: Opportunities and challenges for the community” was held in Romny – the final event in a series of specialised advanced training programmes for community leaders, their deputies, and heads of education departments.

Representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Sumy Regional Military Administration, the Sumy Regional Council, and experts from DECIDE, 47 communities in Sumy region, including community leaders and heads of education departments, discussed the practical aspects of implementing the reform of specialised senior secondary education, looked for answers to pressing questions and shared their vision for the development of the education network in their communities.

Keynote speakers at the event:

• Nadiia Kuzmychova, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine;

• Valentyna Poltorak, DECIDE Project Manager, Deputy Head of NGO DOCCU;

• Pavlo Ostapenko, DECIDE National Expert;

• Serhii Yatskovskyi, DECIDE National Expert – Coordinator for Advisory Support to Local Governments in Implementing Specialised Secondary Education Reform;

• Yana Brusentsova, DECIDE National Expert;

• Anna Morenko, Coordinator of the Educational Environment Division of the NUS Implementation Office.

Key questions that have become a priority for communities:

• requirements for the minimum number of students in an academic lyceum;

• ensuring the accessibility of lyceums, taking into account the condition of the roads;

• attracting external resources for the development of the network of academic lyceums;

• details of concluding cooperation agreements between communities with regard to academic lyceums;

• legislative provision of opportunities for students currently in Grades 9 and 10 to complete their education at their current schools;

• moratorium on the use of the property complexes of abolished educational institutions;

• amendments to the charters of educational institutions by their founders to introduce financial autonomy.

Moreover, Valentyna Poltorak, DECIDE Project Manager, presented opportunities for further cooperation within the framework of the second phase of the Project. Recently, DECIDE Project and the Sumy Regional State Administration signed a Memorandum of Cooperation valid until 2030. The partnership aims to support the implementation of educational reforms, promote strategic planning in the education sector, and strengthen the links between education, the economy, and the labour market in the region by establishing an effective system of career guidance for children and adolescents.

During the seminar, special attention was paid to the practical aspects of implementing the reform of specialised senior secondary education. DECIDE experts presented approaches to modelling the network of educational institutions in Sumy region.

The practical part of the event included a study visit to Romny Secondary School No. 7, which will subsequently function as a gymnasium. During the visit, representatives of the communities had the opportunity to discuss approaches to creating a modern educational environment.

In May, the participants completed a distance-learning course; in particular, 43 community leaders and their relevant deputies from Sumy region attended a specialised advanced training programme “Reform of specialised senior secondary education: Opportunities and challenges for the community”.

In addition, 51 heads of education departments and their deputies completed a specialised advanced training programme “Decentralised management of education in communities under martial law” worth 2 ECTS credits and covered over 14 topics, enabling them to comprehensively enhance their professional skills in education management in communities.

The DECIDE project is implemented by NGO DOCCU and PHZH International Projects in Education with the support of the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine.

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