Ukraine is developing a competence-based approach in vocational education and training
A group of around one hundred teachers from Ternopil, Volyn and Kyiv regions and the city of Kyiv had travelled by bus to Lublin city in eastern Poland to attend the Bridge2Skills project's first contact teaching period for teachers. The training week started with an emotive moment: the participants stood up and paused for one minute to show respect for those who defend their country – a custom that has become part of daily life in Ukraine since the war began. This was a concrete reminder of how the war impacts the participants’ lives and how important education is in the midst of a crisis.
The Bridge2Skills project is funded by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It seeks to develop vocational qualifications and the capabilities of managers and teachers at vocational institutions for providing VET that meets the current and future needs of the Ukrainian labour market. The project supports the development of Ukraine's VET system in line with European education policy and recommendations. The project provides training for not only teachers but also school managers that has been planned in close cooperation with experts from the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
The contact training for teachers was delivered in cooperation between Häme University of Applied Sciences and JAMK University of Applied Sciences. During the training, the participants were familiarised with key themes of the competence-based approach: the learning process, assessment and competence identity. Workshops were held to discuss such topics as how individual needs can be met in large groups, how the world of work can be linked to assessment, and how a competence-based demonstration can be organised within the framework of Ukrainian legislation.
At the end of the training the teachers started planning their own competence-based courses, which they will continue to develop with the support of online teaching. These courses will be presented during next year's contact training period. While the participants found the planning work inspiring, they were also aware of the challenges: they still have to sell the new ideas of education to their schools' management, and it is uncertain if they can obtain the required resources. Viktoriia Karbysheva, who represents the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, responded to these concerns by stating that a new act will give education providers more independence and enable closer cooperation with employers.
Bridge2Skills follows on a previous EU4Skills project and demonstrates Finland’s long-term commitment to supporting vocational education and training in Ukraine. While the training was organised in Poland, its heart beats for Ukraine – Slava Ukraini!
Participants' experiences
We will follow the paths of the following four VET teachers towards competence-based VET teaching throughout the Bridge2Skills project.
Taras Diachun
Ternopil Vocational College with Special Emphasis on Military and Physical Training, subject: Defence of Ukraine
Taras Diachun's subject, defence of Ukraine, is a mandatory part of all qualifications and included in civic education. Even before attending the training, Taras knew that the Finnish education system was highly appreciated, and this perception was reinforced during the contact teaching period. The preparation of a personal competence development plan was something he would particularly like to bring to Ukraine from the Finnish education system, whereas he also wondered how he would find time to draw up a personal plan for each student.
Myroslava Dyka
Volyn region, Kovel School, subject: history, civic skills
At the beginning of the training Myroslava Dyka was in two minds about the new competence-based approach, but she now understands the importance of modern knowledge. Her students come from the New Ukrainian School system, and in Myroslava’s opinion, VET must also be reformed and meet the students’ demands for modern vocational studies. When comparing Finnish and Ukrainian vocational education and training, Myroslava found that the instruction is much more practically oriented in Finland. She considers integration of students with special needs in her current school very difficult, as the school is not accessible and, for example, sign language interpreters are not available to enable the delivery of accessible instruction.
Iryna Oleshko
City of Kyiv, Vocational College of Art and Design, subject: jewellery design and making
For Iryna Oleshko, attending this training brought her outside the borders of Ukraine for the first time. Iryna likes the structure of Finnish education in which a new module is built on top of previous ones, bringing the acquired competence to bear on the entire qualification. “First you plan what the student should know, and then how and where they can acquire the competence”, Iryna sums up the content of the contact training week. The first thing in Finnish education she would like to adopt in Ukraine is the student assessment system. Iryna also has experience of an autistic student who liked repetition and was unable to finish a work phase. Continuous supervision by the teacher was required in the workshop, as there was no assistant or support person.
Ivan Kholodko
Kyiv region, Boryspil Vocational College, subject: surface treatment
Ivan Kholodko was sorry that he did not speak English well enough to follow the instruction. While interpretation was well organised, he felt that some of the content was lost in translation. Ivan Kholodko found defining competence difficult as a term. On each day of the training, competence was discussed from a slightly different viewpoint. However, he felt that peer learning with other participants helped him define and internalise the term. The aspect of Finnish VET Ivan appreciated the most was the personal perspective: individualisation in preparing and delivering the curriculum, all the way to assessment. In his previous occupation as a chemistry teacher, Ivan had experience of students with special needs. He has also seen a student with cerebral palsy in VET, however not in his teaching group.
Text: Torun Eklund and Halyna Bondaruk