During June-October of this year, open school co-working spaces will be created in five more Ukrainian municipalities to reveal the creative, design, technological and entrepreneurial potential of schoolchildren. Co-working spaces will be provided with modern equipment, and they will be open from morning to evening for both schoolchildren and adults, including internally displaced persons (IDPs). Moreover, part of the created works and products will be sold in order to earn ‘pocket money’ or ‘start-up capital’ for opening your own business. Open school co-working spaces are expected to have an impact on community development and strengthening of the local economy.

The organisers and participants of the project “Strengthening the Local Economy and Good Governance” implemented with the financial support of the Council of Europe want to scale up this experience to schools in every municipality in Ukraine.

First step towards success

The participants of this project were selected through a public competition, which received 54 applications. The winning applications were decided by the competition committee, which included representatives of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development and the Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities, and on July 1, at the initial online conference, partnership agreements on the joint implementation of the project were signed between the head of Education for Success NGO, city mayors and village heads of the relevant municipalities and directors of five educational institutions:

1. Horodok Lyceum No. 4 of the Horodok City Council (Horodok City Council, Khmelnytskyi region, Sewing Co-Working Space project);
2. General Secondary School of levels I-III No. 2 of Kopychyntsi (Kopychyntsi City Council, Ternopil region, Carpentry Co-Working project);
3. Krupets Lyceum (Krupets Village Council, Rivne region, Culinary Co-Working project);
4. Lvivskyi Lyceum of the Lviv City Council (Lviv City Council, Microgreens Cultivation Co-Working project);
5. Pustomytiv Lyceum No. 1 (Pustomytiv City Council, Lviv Region, Microgreens Cultivation Co-Working project).

These educational institutions meet the main criteria set by the project organisers:

• Co-working experience; the employee in charge of the operation of the co-working has the appropriate qualifications, experience and motivation;
• At least 150 students to ensure a wide impact on target audiences;
• Support of local authorities regarding the creation and operation of a school co-working space;
• Outlined prospects and a plan to ensure the sustainability of project results.

Other municipalities or institutions that plan to eventually create their own open school co-working spaces can be guided by the criteria.

Markiyan Datsyshyn, representative of Education for Success NGO and expert in local self-government and local economic development, noted:

“We expect that the selected municipalities and institutions will be able to show successful practices in the next few months, which we will then replicate throughout Ukraine, inspiring other municipalities to make changes.”

During the event, Steen Nørlov, Head of the Office of the Council of Europe, representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the Coordination Of Cooperation Programmes, congratulated the winners.

“I hope that we will help Ukrainian people, and this project will be even better adapted to the national context and contribute to the economic development of municipalities in the future,” he said.

Oleh Serniak, Mayor of Pustomytiv, expressed his gratitude for the support of education in these difficult times.

“We believe that the development of education is the key to the successful future of Ukraine,” he emphasized.

Role distribution

Serhii Diatlenko, representative of Education for Success NGO and education expert, outlined the functions of the project participants.

“In order to succeed and present a unique experience, we need to understand that it is not just about the equipment of the workshop, but primarily about building the capacity of the school, about developing the community. Together, we must create a success story that will contribute to attracting donors and NGOs to the development of high-quality school education in municipalities and the strengthening of the local economy,” said Serhii Diatlenko.

According to him, during the implementation of the project, Education for Success NGO will be responsible for more than the purchase, delivery and set-up of the equipment for school co-working spaces. The most important thing is that the experts of the NGO will advise municipalities on issues of creating educational programmes, implementing school social entrepreneurship, communication and interaction with target audiences, as well as professional development of teaching staff. The NGO will also provide mentoring support for co-working at the initial stage.

For their part, educational institutions should:

• Ensure the functioning of school co-working spaces within the educational process or as an extracurricular activity;
• Provide access to co-working spaces for the adults of the municipality as well as students of other educational institutions;
• Involve target audiences such as IDPs and ethnic communities living in the municipality in co-working activities;
• Attract local entrepreneurs and craftspeople who will help the children;
• Ensure the production of a certain type of products in the school co-working space and its sale in order to receive funds to support the functioning of the co-working space;
• Promote the involvement of the teaching staff in educational workshops and training sessions to increase their professional capacity;
• Promote the development of the creative potential of students.

“As a result, educational institutions should develop an innovative curriculum and encourage highly professional and active teachers so that well-equipped and accessible school co-working spaces, under the guidance of local businesses and craftspeople, boost the public participation in local affairs,” said Serhii Diatlenko.

A community that does not care about its youth has no future. More about school co-working spaces

Ivan Savytskyi, Head of Education for Success NGO, said:

“We have been looking for a Ukrainian counterpart to the word co-working for a long time. So far, without success. That is why we have to explain what exactly we mean by this word. And how does it is different from a workshop.”

According to him, everyone in Ukraine is used to seeing a school workshop as a dusty classroom with often outdated equipment, where children do something (most often fooling around with gadgets) during their Labour Training classes.

“According to our observations, children make some weird things during their Labour Training classes, such as hammer handles from rotting pine wood, no matter whether actually anyone needs them or not. Children do not treat Labour Training as a subject important for their development. The labour teachers have always had a syllabus that has been outdated or decades with ancient technology and followed it to a T. Well, co-working spaces are a completely different story,” said Ivan Savytskyi.

He noted that co-working spaces should have only modern equipment that is used as efficiently as possible. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., co-working spaces should work under the school curriculum. From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., they should be used for extracurricular activities. After 5 p.m., they would act as an open space for work and creativity for everyone: teachers and student groups from other schools, parents and the whole community.

“We must move away from the stereotype that the school is a source of endless problems in the community: the roof needs fixing, the windows and doors need to be changed, and so on. The school should stop being a closed environment and become part of the community, a space attracting both young people and adults. A place you want to visit. We open the doors of the workshop and use the knowledge of the teaching staff for everyone who wants to. The workshops that become co-working spaces bustle with life and turn into active hubs,” said Ivan Savytskyi.

Of course, not every school can be provided with modern equipment. Therefore, if at least one school is equipped in the municipality, it should open its doors to children from other institutions. Teachers from all schools should be able to come with their students to work on this equipment.

Co-working spaces should produce something that has a certain value for students, their classmates, family or community.

“I can say from experience that when children make certain things for their community, even simple benches, they take great pleasure in it and damage municipal property less. This is what education should bring. Labour training is not only about mastering a hammer or a sewing machine, it is also about teaching children to be self-motivated, active, responsible, and about the opportunity to feel their abilities and value,” Ivan Savytskyi said.

He recommended not to consider the project to create a co-working space only as an improvement of the physical infrastructure. The development of teachers and the education of students are much more important.

“A good teacher can make a masterpiece even with a hammer and pliers. But if they are not passionate about their work, they will continue to make hammer handles from rotten pine wood even using a laser cutter. That is why we should forget about restrictions and give free rein to our imagination. Never say no to teachers and students. Do not limit children only to classes and school, communicate with other educational institutions, with parents, entrepreneurs. Foster excitement and healthy competition in children,” the expert advised.

He believes that co-working spaces are also useful in that they allow creating a pool of active youth in the community who want to learn not only to work with their hands, but also to provide informational, advertising and marketing services. Children will learn to see prospects for the future and opportunities for self-actualisation.

Ivan Savytskyi also emphasised that teachers should stop being afraid of money.

“Teach children to earn with their head and hands. Let them have the opportunity to sell what they have made, even for a small amount of money. Because it’s not about money. This gives them a sense of their own significance, value. The opportunities provided by the legislation are sufficient for children to receive money for products made in the school co-working space. You just have to choose the best one,” said the expert.

In addition, he emphasised that in wartime, school co-working can become an opportunity for internally displaced persons to help the community and be useful, start their own businesses.

The expert pointed out that now in many municipalities, only the windows of shops and cafés light up in the evening. And the facilities people can use for self-actualisation are closed and dark.

"It shouldn’t be like that. Let’s create bright places for young people together. A community that does not care about the youth has no future,” Ivan Savytskyi said, summing up.

The project plan includes a large list of steps that must be taken in a fairly short time so that co-working spaces come into existence and become successful examples of cooperation between an educational institution, a municipality, an NGO and international partners.

“You can look at this list as some additional work that needs to be done to fulfil the terms of the grant, or as an opportunity that will make you stronger. I’m sure you understand which path leads to success,” said Serhii Diatlenko.

The project “Strengthening the Local Economy and Good Governance” is implemented under the Council of Europe Programme "Decentralisation and Reform of Public Administration in Ukraine”.