The closer to the school year, the more conversations about the form of education. The Ministry of Education and Culture has already provided its recommendations on the organization of the educational process, but they do not so much provide a road map for school management as point to a corridor of opportunities, or more precisely, options for choosing in the conditions of restrictions imposed on education by the war. On the one hand, the Ministry calls on schools to implement the usual offline mode. On the other hand, he notes that in the absence of sufficiently capacious storage facilities, the educational process should be organized in a mixed form. Moreover, under the conditions of a difficult security situation, regional military administrations can make decisions about remote training.
In any case, the safety of all participants in the educational process is the priority of educators. And this means that in different conditions, which vary depending on the region, schools will provide education in different ways.
Forms of education in the regional section
This, in fact, is evidenced by the regional map, which clearly shows the choice of schools depending on the proximity to the war zone.
Forms of de jure education
In general, for the 2024-2025 academic year in Ukrainian schools, the MES provides several possible scenarios for the organization of the educational process:
- Eye format. It is clear that we are talking about the usual way of studying at desks, but in the conditions of war, one “but” is added to it. Education in the usual format is conducted if the school has a sufficient number of shelters for all participants of the educational process.
- Distance education is an individualized process of acquiring knowledge, skills and abilities, which occurs mainly through the use of distance technologies and computer tools, with the use of modern means of information and communication technologies
In cases where there are not enough shelters, schools can organize training in shifts or in a mixed format that combines face-to-face and distance learning.
- The mixed mode of education is not enshrined in legislation as a separate form of education, because it involves a combination of face-to-face and distance learning, which are defined in the Law “On Education”. At the same time, the term is defined in Order No. 850 dated 13.06.2024, where it declares a certain sequence (week/week; day/day) of full-time and distance learning, which defines mixed education.
- Individual form of education. This means that schools can offer individual forms of education, such as externships, family education and pedagogical patronage. Parents can transfer their children to these forms of education before the beginning of the school year or during the school year, but no later than three months before the annual assessment or state final certification.
- Online education. There is also the possibility of online learning, which allows students to study simultaneously in several institutions according to an individual program, which may include specialized courses, clubs, cultural or sports institutions.
And de facto?
These are the forms that we are talking about de jure, but what about de facto?
According to the Institute of Educational Analytics, about 628,000 students attended school remotely in the past academic year. About 298,000 schoolchildren studied in a mixed form.
Of the 5.7 million school-age children, only 2.7 million attended school regularly. The rest studied fragmentarily and unsystematically.
What do parents say about academic performance and prospects for the next academic year?
Galina Ts. Half of the class studied mixed, half of the class online. Results from online learning are terrible. We did mixed activities. It was calmer for the child when she was at school, not at home. There is a shelter there, and they check that the students will go there, but at home the child did not even go into the corridor, and we have no other shelters. Our school also warned for the future that everyone will study in a mixed way, and there will be no more online classes. However, those schools where there are no shelters will continue to teach online completely, no one will allow them to take children offline. In our school, several classes of such people have already gathered, those who transferred from schools without shelter, because they were told that it would only be online.
Anna N. We studied remotely last year. But there was a class on mixed education. So, the class teacher, conducting the final parent meeting, said that for the entire academic year he had fully completed 6 (!!!!!) physics lessons in a class with mixed learning. Read again – 6 lessons per year!
And why go there then (and many go) for that offline?
Alexander S. I am categorically against going to school. The teacher told us that it will be decided in August and they cannot force them to leave. We are waiting for what will happen. I hope for adequate solutions from the Department of Home Affairs.
Olena G. All smart people want online. Online at your school, with teachers from our school. This, as I understand it, is the request of society.
Olga Ch. Well, it is not at all clear how training will take place in the presence of so many alarms and lack of light. And if you take into account that I have to move the child from the village, where there is constant light thanks to solar batteries, to the city, where everything in the apartment runs on electricity and without electricity there will be no water, heat, or food, then this is completely absurd. And the distance learning at our school is organized at a very high level. And, in my opinion, those who do not study remotely and at school will not study.
Marina K. Personally, I am against offline in our city. With the number of alarms, blackouts… what kind of training could we be talking about? But I work almost constantly at home and, of course, it is easier for me to control the educational process. Yes, most of the material has to be developed independently. But, in my opinion, it is better at home than in dubious shelters, and even in the second shift. Starting with ventilation, crowding, ending with food and the quality of those “shelters”, which in most cases are more of a mass grave than a rescue shelter.
Not only September 1?
In general, the format and dates of the start of the school year may vary depending on the region and the security situation. Local authorities and regional military administrations have the right to make decisions about the start of training and its format, taking into account the current situation and the availability of the necessary infrastructure for the safety of participants in the educational process.
It is already known about several cities where the mayor’s office decided to start school in August, instead of the traditional beginning of autumn.
The academic year for schoolchildren in Lviv will begin on August 19. This decision was made to ensure a full-fledged educational process, taking into account possible power outages in winter. In the event of a blackout, Lviv schools will function as points of invincibility.
In Chernivtsi, the academic year will also begin on August 19. The first semester will last until November 29, and the second semester will last from February 3 to June 6. There will be no autumn and spring vacations, instead a long winter vacation is planned.
Ivano-Frankivsk is considering the possibility of starting the school year on August 1 or 15, depending on the current situation in the country.
