Finland and the EU support Ukrainian School Reform, which aims at improved quality of education system

The project was launched in 2018 and since then, for example, providers of teacher training have been trained, learning materials have been produced for speakers of Ukrainian as a second language, and a digital tool has been developed. At the start, the Ukrainian Government proposed cooperation to Finland as Finland's expertise in the education sector is widely recognised and appreciated.

The aim of the cooperation is to reform basic education in Ukraine and bring it to the 2020s by improving the quality of the education system. The purpose is to create an education system where students not only receive knowledge but also gain the ability to apply knowledge and where learning outcomes can be measured. The EU’s share of the support focuses on measures that address the needs of national language minorities.

To date, the support allocated to the project has been used, to train providers of teacher training so that teachers are able to carry out the education reform in grades 1 to 4 of primary education. In the course of this collaboration, new standards have been developed to apply to teachers, new textbooks have been prepared, and principals have been trained. Speakers of Ukrainian as a second language have been taken into account by producing suitable study materials and related training.

Awareness of the school reform has been promoted through communication campaigns, and a digital tool has been developed for testing and improving teachers’ and school management’s digital pedagogy competences.

Finland has expertise in this area because it has made reforms in the various sectors of the project. Quality education is one of the priorities of Finland’s development policy.

The objectives of the project are related to Ukraine’s long-term reform, The New Ukrainian School, which was launched in 2016. One reason for the reform is that the results of the 2018 PISA survey suggested that Ukraine should improve its performance in education.

The school reform is essential for the development of Ukrainian society and economy as a whole.  It is linked not only to the national competitiveness but also to the country’s effort to bring its education system closer to European standards.

The project’s budget is EUR 8 million, of which Finland and the EU contribute EUR 6 million and EUR 2 million respectively. The project will expire in 2022.

A Finnish consulting group, FCG International Ltd, is responsible for the practical implementation of the project. It is implementing the project in partnership with the University of Helsinki and the University of Helsinki Centre for Continuing Education HY+. The project is financed from Finland’s development cooperation appropriations.