Another imitation of reforms: how and who in Ukraine “modernizes” vocational education to a state of ruins

The attempts of the Ministry of Education and Science to reform the education of Ukraine are always reminiscent of renovations in an old high-rise building, where instead of replacing a pipe, they simply wrap it with insulating tape and are proud of the imaginary “modernization”. From one such “update” to another, the education system does not become better, but only sinks deeper into chaos. Each successive reform creates more problems than it solves, because the approach to change is traditionally weak and disconnected from reality and the real needs of participants in the educational process. This time, specialists of the Ministry of Education and Culture have undertaken to “optimize” professional education. While the next draft law is waiting for consideration, let’s try to figure out what list of problems the innovations will bring in the event of their adoption.

What changes does the new draft law bring?

On March 14, 2025, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine registered draft law No. 13107 aimed at reforming the professional education system. Despite the stated good intentions, some of the provisions of this document raise serious concerns about their feasibility and potential consequences.

By visiting the official website of the Ministry of Education and Culture, we can familiarize ourselves with quantity vocational and technical institutions that functioned as of January 1, 2021 – 708 institutions of professional education, of which the largest are located:

• in Dnipropetrovsk region – 58 institutions;
• Lviv Oblast – 55 establishments;
• in Donetsk region – 43 establishments.

The data has not been updated since then. Specialists of the Ministry of Education and Culture actively talk about the “great restructuring” of professional education, but at the same time they cannot provide accurate data on the number of institutions that it covers. During an interview with representatives of the Ministry of Education and Culture, the number 447 is heard once, the number 700 another time, and the discrepancies are even greater in different reports. And this is a clear confirmation that the system is actually uncontrolled.

A paradox emerges: officials willingly talk about strategies, mechanisms and modernization, but at the same time they do not have basic information about the real state of professional education. If the Ministry of Education and Science does not know how many vocational schools there are in the country, and which of them are actually functioning, and which have long since fallen into disrepair, then what kind of effective reform can we talk about? This is no longer management of education, but an imitation of turbulent activity with the hope that no one will notice the holes in this system.

Nevertheless, the draft law already exists, it has been registered, so let’s consider its main provisions.

• Access to education without basic secondary education

This draft law provides for the possibility of obtaining professional education for persons who do not have a basic secondary education. Although this may increase access to professions, there is a risk of reducing the quality of professional training, as basic education is the foundation for further training.

• New financing system

The introduction of subventions from the state to local budgets to pay for teachers’ work and entrusting the maintenance of the material and technical base to local budgets can lead to uneven funding of institutions in different regions. Wealthier communities will be able to provide better facilities, while the less affluent will be left behind, deepening educational inequality. Such self-removal of the state based on the principle “I don’t know anything, my house is on the edge” is also surprising. Like, you need it, you finance it, we’ll just write eloquent reports that everything is “wonderful”.

• Expanding the autonomy of professional education institutions

Giving institutions the right to independently determine admissions rules, develop educational programs and dispose of earned funds can lead to chaos and a lack of uniform standards. Without proper control, this can reduce the quality of education and make it difficult for diplomas to be recognized in the labor market.

• Implementation of educational audit

The idea of ​​checking the quality of education looks positive, but without clearly defined criteria and transparent procedures, it can become an instrument of pressure on institutions and teachers, instead of an incentive to improve the quality of education.

• Changes in teachers’ working hours

Reducing the working week of teachers to 36 hours instead of 40 may negatively affect their wages and motivation. In the context of the already low salaries in the field of education, this decision looks questionable.

• Strengthening cooperation with employers

The expansion of public-private partnership mechanisms can lead to the commercialization of education and its subordination to the interests of business, which does not always correspond to public needs. Previously, the popularity of the vocational school was supported by the fact that the workers received good salaries, as well as respect in society. A worker with experience could earn no less than a young engineer, and manual labor was perceived as a decent way to provide for the family.

Decline began when society’s priorities changed. Labor professions have lost their former attractiveness, and the vocational education system itself has become a victim of financial cuts and indifference. We are now experiencing the effects of this decline. A crisis is brewing in the country, which was difficult to predict a few years ago: labor professions are rapidly disappearing from the market, and highly qualified craftsmen are becoming a real shortage.

• Terminology update

Replacing the terms “vocational and technical education” with “vocational education” and “pupil” with “student” looks like a facade change that does not solve the deep problems of the education system.

Who developed the bill

The authors of the draft law should be indicated separately. MES has long been famous for its reluctance to take into account the opinion of educators, who are the creators of the educational process. For some reason, reformation is always carried out by people who have never worked in the field of education and pedagogy and have nothing to do with it. Now we are observing the same picture. Among the authors of the draft law are:

1. Serhiy Babak – Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Education, Science and Innovation. He has a degree in economics, law, and even a “doctor of technical sciences” (which, by the way, he refused, because he is a laureate of the anti-academic unworthiness award in the “Plagiarist — 2019” nomination). That is, pedagogy, teaching methods or at least some profession related to education is not in this list at all, as well as integrity. He has no experience of working in a school or university, as well as a real understanding of the challenges that Ukrainian education faces every day.

For most of his career, Babak was engaged in business, investments and trade – he worked as the director of the department for entrepreneurship and investment attraction of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, deputy general secretary of the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce, also managed the state enterprise “Scientific and Technical Center of New Technologies” as deputy director of the state institution “Center of Marine Geology, Geoecology and Sedimentary Ore Formation of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine”. How did it happen that such a person today manages the educational reforms of the entire country and develops laws that determine the future of Ukrainian schools, universities and science? Unanswered questions.

1. Galina Tretyakova is a member of parliament, scandalously known for her anti-social initiatives and cynical statement about “children of low quality”, for years she has been influencing laws related to people’s rights, education and social policy. By education, Tretyakov is a mechanical engineer of aircraft engines. No philosophy, sociology or pedagogy. Later, she received another economic specialty — she graduated from the Kyiv University of Market Relations with a major in finance. And that’s all.

Her entire career revolved around the insurance business and financial institutions. She started as an engineer-technologist in the military unit, then became the chairman of the board of the insurance company “ASKA – Life”. She worked in the regulator of the financial market, managed the department of temporary administration of financial and credit institutions. Later, she was a member of public councils under the Ministry of Social Policy and Ministry of Health and an expert on pension reforms. That is, she is not in the education system for a single day. However, the right to make decisions about the fate of children, teachers and the entire social policy of the country is in her hands. A person who sees the world only through the prism of numbers and insurance schemes is not able to perceive education and the social sphere as a value, and not an expendable item of the budget.

1. The no less scandalous Mykhailo Radutsky is a person who had and does not have any relation to education. Medical businessman, paramedic by basic education, ex-president of the private clinic “Boris” – this is the real profile of a person who is currently developing draft laws for the education sector. His whole career is not school, university, and science. He started as a paramedic in an ambulance, then found himself the deputy director of “Kyivconcert” — an entertainment structure. And now it is Radutsky who has the right to influence the educational reform. A person who counted on profits from medicine all his life suddenly reforms professional education. Absolute misunderstanding of the system, its problems and challenges does not prevent him from participating in law-making, which will determine the future of Ukrainian education.

Among the developers of this draft law, there are many more “interesting” personalities, so there are many questions in this case – how did people with such a background even get leverage on the reform of an industry to which they have no professional relationship? And why in this country do anyone but educators continue to do education? Isn’t that why the reforms look like a set of chaotic decisions without any connection to the real education system? How did it happen that among the authors of the draft law there was not a single teacher of a vocational technical school who understands all the needs and requirements in this field?

Such a reform rather resembles the repair of an apartment, which was ordered from people who have never even held a hammer in their hands. The draft law was developed by officials and theoreticians who have never worked in vocational schools, do not know what workshops look like, and do not understand the real challenges of this field. They come up with new rules of the game without asking the opinion of those who work and study in this system.

The result is predictable: the reform looks like a set of abstract ideas detached from reality. The document has a lot of good words about “modernization” and “improvement of quality”, but no concrete mechanism for how it should work in the conditions of chronic underfunding, shortage of teachers and outdated equipment. It is obvious that when those who do not understand its essence take up the matter, the system is not renewed, but destroyed. And if such management continues, soon there will be nothing to reform.

That is why, instead of fundamental changes, we have only pretend actions. Lack of funding, outdated programs, mass exodus of young people abroad — all these problems have been accumulating for years, and now they are trying to solve them with quick and not always well-thought-out solutions. If you don’t have a clear strategy, then maybe it’s time to turn to the experience of developed countries.

How professional study abroad works: experience that Ukraine ignores

Vocational education in Europe and the USA is not a “school for two-year-olds”, but a full-fledged start to a career with guaranteed employment opportunities. They realized long ago that the country needs not only lawyers and economists, but also qualified technicians, builders, engineers and cooks. Therefore, the professional education system works as a well-established mechanism: the state, business and educational institutions interact, creating modern programs and conditions for students.

In Germany, there is a dual system: a student studies half of the time and works at the company for the other half. And not for free, but for quite a decent salary. In Austria, more than 80% of teenagers choose professional education precisely because of the guaranteed job prospects. In Finland and Switzerland, vocational education is integrated with technological innovation, and students are taught on the most modern equipment. In the US, colleges cooperate with large companies that are interested in training personnel, and therefore invest money in the educational process. In general, the main principle of professional education abroad is that it does not train the unemployed. Graduates leave with diplomas that are really valued in the labor market. This is not just a piece of paper, but confirmation of specific skills that can be applied immediately.

Vocational education reform in Ukraine is more like dismantling the old system without clear plans for building a new one. We are offered to change the terms, transfer funding to local budgets, allow institutions more autonomy, but behind all this there is no real clear development strategy. Graduates of professional technical schools continue to face the fact that their diplomas mean little in the labor market, and the conditions of study are far from modern standards.

The risk is obvious: chaotic changes could further erode confidence in academia, turning it into an illiquid asset. Instead of development, we risk getting a system that is barely hanging on, where each institution is forced to survive on its own. And while other countries are building strong ties between education and business, Ukraine will once again patch holes instead of creating a truly effective model of training qualified specialists.