On 17 June, Lviv hosted a workshop “Reform of specialised senior secondary education: Opportunities and challenges for the community”, which became the final event in a series of specialised advanced training programmes for community leaders, their deputies, and heads of education departments.

The professional development programme was approved by the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service and is worth 0.6 ECTS credits (19 hours).

Keynote speakers at the event included:

• Nadiia Kuzmychova, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine;
• Valentyna Poltorak, DECIDE Project Manager;
• Oleksandr Kulepin, Deputy Head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration;
• Oleh Paska, Director of the Department of Education and Science of the Lviv Regional Military Administration;
• Serhii Yatskovskyi, DECIDE National Expert – Coordinator for Advisory Support to Local Governments in Implementing Specialised Secondary Education Reform;
• Pavlo Ostapenko, DECIDE National Expert;
• Anna Morenko, Coordinator of the Educational Environment Division of the NUS Implementation Office.

The seminar was held in a dialogue format. Community leaders had the opportunity to ask questions to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and DECIDE Project experts, and discussed practical aspects of implementing the reform in their communities as well as further steps for the development of the educational network.

During the seminar, special attention was paid to the algorithm for the implementation of the reform of specialised secondary education. DECIDE experts presented approaches to modelling the network of educational institutions in Lviv region.

Topics covered included:

• the changes envisaged by the reform of specialised senior secondary schools and their impact on education in communities;
• requirements for the educational environment of academic lyceums, and approaches to its organisation and development;
• opportunities for communities to attract funding for the creation of a modern material and technical base for academic lyceums;
• cooperation between communities with regard to academic lyceums.

The community leaders also had the opportunity to discuss the following strategically important topics with the experts:

• 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;
• opportunities for students currently in Grades 9 and 10 to complete their education at their current schools;
• actions by founders to introduce financial autonomy in educational institutions.

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 Lviv Regional State Administration signed a Memorandum of Cooperation valid until 2030.

The partnership aims to support the implementation of educational reforms, promote strategic planning, 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 workshop, the participants also visited the T. H. Shevchenko Lyceum in Davydivska rural community, Lviv district, Lviv region, where they learnt practical examples of organising the educational environment and approaches to the development of the institution in the context of the reform.