Vocational Education and Training Reform During The War: The MYRP Program Bolstered the Change

Vocational education in Ukraine for a long time remained in the shadow of higher education is currently undergoing a transformation that has even accelerated despite the war. Make us preferred on Google Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Photo provided by the program partners Content Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Flip Make us preferred on Google During the full-scale war, the resilience of Ukraine’s educational system and the overcoming of educational losses are essential. The Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP), funded by the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) global fund and implemented with support from the Ministry of Education and Science, has become a key vehicle for that effort. The multi-vector process of recovering educational losses includes fundamental elements that are transforming the entire educational sphere. Under war conditions, the program has accelerated the integration of leading global practices into the learning process. Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official . Another systemic element whose implementation was accelerated by MYRP is the vocational education and training (VET) reform. Thanks to the Program, the reform has gained new momentum. For a long time, the VET system functioned on the inertia of the Soviet era: schools trained specialists according to standards that remained unchanged for decades, while businesses received graduates whose skills did not meet real market demands. Currently, the vocational education and training (VET) reform has moved to a model based on “three pillars”: changing educational content, modernizing infrastructure, and partnering with business. These pillars rest on decentralization and the workshops where students can work with real equipment. This approach is systematically implemented through the “100 Workshops” project: in 2026, the government will for the third time invest in infrastructure renewal, allocating 1 billion hryvnias ($23 million). 200 selected VET institutions  are being updated and another 100 are planned to be this year. Other Topics of Interest Ukrainian Prime Minister in Washington for Talks on Recovery and Reform US Treasury said talks with Ukraine’s prime minister focused on reconstruction and economic cooperation, highlighting the first investment approved by the joint US-Ukraine fund in March. The focus has now shifted to dual education – learning right at the workplace.  Photo provided by the program partners According to Dmytro Zavhorodnii, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization, the goal of all the changes is to transform outdated curricula into modern skills: “Today, VET education is about opportunities for a person to realize themselves here and now. That is why we are changing the approach: from outdated curricula to modern skills. The reform is about creating real opportunities for people and the economy, and our task is to ensure the graduate is needed by the market the day they receive their graduation certificate,” the deputy minister said. He also emphasized that the change in approaches facilitates the rapid modernization of infrastructure, educational content and business partnerships as well as the training of workforce needed by the economy for the country’s recovery. One of the main drivers of the vocational and training education reform in Ukraine has been the NGO “Projector Foundation.” Within the MYRP framework, the organization is implementing the DriveEd pilot project to reform specialized secondary education with a professional focus, specifically in the transport and logistics profile. For this purpose, the NGO developed and tested educational and methodological support tools (cases, games, lectures, flowcharts) that meet the New Ukrainian School (NUS) standards. “The Ministry suggested us to choose the transport and logistics profile... first of all, because this sector is strategically important for Ukraine’s economic development and postwar reconstruction,” Oleksandra Chubrei, project team leader, told Kyiv Post. A team of 45 expert practitioners analyzed the international experience of Finland, Estonia and Austria to adapt it for Ukraine. “We developed 10 model curricula and over 10,000 pages of educational content,” says Chubrei. In addition, a “Crisis Management” course was introduced for principals and administrative staff, and “Soft Skills” and “Entrepreneurship” courses were introduced for students. They are already integrated in the “ Vocational Education Online “ platform.  Photo provided by the program partners The project has demonstrated high demand from educators – 198 teachers instead of 90 planned have undergone training. The Projector Foundation’s project has embraced a total of nearly 3,400 students. Special attention is paid to frontline regions (Sumy, Chernihiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv) where, in addition to methodological support, 10 educational institutions have also received digital equipment worth $15,000 each. Overall, the integration of the profession into the general education cycle has become the project’s main achievement.  Under the new approach, students study mathematics, physics or English through the lens of their future profession. For example, they learn professional vocabulary or solve physics problems related to auto mechanics. “Now, students don’t ask: ‘Why do we need math?’, because they solve problems related to the transport and logistics profile. As to English, our entire vocabulary, dialogs and exercises meet the Ministry’s requirements. At the same time, they are very strongly focused on the profession,” continues Chubrei, emphasizing that similar approaches are applied to other general subjects like physics and chemistry. Experts from GoGlobal focused on the implementation of the English-language component in vocational education and training reform and developed a unique set of educational materials called “PROSKILLS. English for VETs.” This set includes a study guide for students approved by the Ministry, as well as methodological materials for teachers.  Photo provided by the program partners “We developed educational materials, the PROSKILLS guide, which correspond to today’s realities. This is primarily about taking into account the discrepancy between the curriculum and the real level of students’ English during the textbook’s development,” says Liubov Zaliubovska, Development Director at GoGlobal. As part of the project, GoGlobal also launched the PROSKILLS mobile app, which was recently presented in Kyiv.  “We saw that the barrier was not the desire to learn, but the tools. General English does not meet labor market demands, so we created a product that provides the language in the context of the profession,” said GoGlobal Director Tetiana Kovryha during the presentation of the app. Another area of the organization’s work within the vocational education and training reform was not just training teachers and students, but specifically improving speech skills. “First, we conducted training for vocational school teachers. Second, we held speaking clubs for both teachers and students,” Kovryha added. The organization also told us that six waves of speaking clubs were held with eight foreign volunteers. Additionally, GoGlobal has implemented several pilot projects using the educational materials. Overall, this work has covered 282 teachers and 1,167 students in 29 educational institutions across five regions (Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Poltava and Odesa). Feedback from participants shows that 95% of students responded positively, and 86.4% of teachers have already integrated the materials into regular teaching, noting an increase in student engagement and motivation. The new formats of work have also been welcomed by the teachers involved in the DriveEd project. The Projector Foundation team has managed to create a positive and constructive environment for both teachers and students.  “For me, the most valuable thing is the cooperation with the teachers,” said the DriveEd team leader. “We really appreciate having regular meetings twice a month... Regardless of bombings, attacks and power shortage, people work by candlelight... if there’s no power and they can’t connect, they ask us to record the meetings.”  Photo provided by the program partners The importance of the right mindset and a positive atmosphere for change is also noted by deputy minister Dmytro Zavhorodnii: “We and our international partners systematically invest in infrastructure – in upgrading workshops and equipment and creating a modern. inspiring space.” Students definitely like the new form of teaching and their attitude to the subjects has really changed. Chubrei recalls a touching story about how the new materials helped change a group of 30 auto-mechanic students. “An English teacher, just back from maternity leave, began working with a group of 30 auto-mechanic students. Nine of them didn’t even know the English alphabet or a single word. When she came in with our materials, those nine students, who hadn’t worked at all before, scored five or six grades after the first semester, meaning they grew by half. And from now on, they are in class – doing tasks, playing games and conversing with each other because they are interested and motivated.” An important element of the transformation has been the focus on involving business in the implementation of dual education. In Ukraine, this form has not yet become a widespread phenomenon: only 5,000 students opted for it in 2024, and in some regions, like Chernivtsi, there were no applicants for dual programs. This is evidenced by analytics from the KSE Center for Education Research in Emergencies. The study was prepared at the request of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine as a tool to support state decision-making on the modernization of VET education. Its goal was to provide the government with an objective analytical picture of dual education and the level of business involvement, as the Center’s work is aimed at improving the quality of vocational education and its systemic alignment with the needs of business and the economy. At the same time, the results of the study showed that the involvement of Ukrainian business in dual education remains very low: only 1.4% of companies participate in dual vocational education while the average rate in the EU stands at 32.4%. Therefore, maintaining regular contact with employers has become another vital focus for the Projector Foundation. A survey of employers from across Ukraine conducted as part of the project provided very useful feedback and allowed for shifting the focus of all educational programs to adapt to the needs of the transport and logistics services market. Due to this dialogue and cooperation, it was possible to start implementing dual education where students complete the majority of tasks for various subjects at workplaces, earning educational credits for their work. Photo provided by the program partners Currently, DriveEd has reached the stage where the next step is the implementation of developments and programs through the “MoES (Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine) approval.” This will allow other institutions in Ukraine to officially use these materials. The experience from the transport profile is planned to be scaled to nine other professional profiles. “The model educational programs developed by the Projector Foundation will be the first in Ukraine to be adapted to the new structure of typical programs of the Ministry of Education,” emphasized Chubrei. “...And based on our materials, there are also plans to develop textbooks specifically for the transport and logistics profile. Later, they will also serve as a foundation for working on other profiles,” she added. One of the main results of the Projector Foundation’s work has been the textbooks that assist in teaching the material. “We provide a comprehensive set of materials that help teachers educate children on the latest developments amidst the reform,” the organization’s representative stressed. The projects of the Program partners have become another example of how the synergy between the public sector, the efforts of NGOs, changing approaches, creativity, and positive energy help transform entire systems. Thus, thanks to MYRP, the transformation of Ukraine’s vocational education and training system has received a new and powerful impulse. Senior editor of Ukrainian edition of Kyiv Post.