On 17–18 December, Olena Rusnachenko, an education expert of the Polaris Programme, paid a working visit to the Berezhany urban hromada in Ternopil oblast. The purpose of the visit was to align management decisions related to the implementation of the upper secondary specialised education reform and to strengthen coordination between the territorial and oblast levels of education governance.
During an official meeting with Mayor Rostyslav Bortnyk, Head of the Education, Youth and Sports Department of the Berezhany City Council Uliana Yuskiv, and Director of the Bohdan Lepkyi Berezhany Lyceum Mykhailo Starko, the participants discussed the hromada’s school network optimisation plan and cooperation between educational institutions. The reform of upper secondary specialised education was at the centre of the dialogue – viewed as a comprehensive management decision that requires clear agreements, a distribution of roles, and shared responsibility between the hromada and the oblast.
As a result of the meeting, the expert and the hromada’s education leadership outlined the framework of a roadmap for implementing upper secondary specialised education for 2025–2027, defining implementation stages and levels of decision-making.
During a visit to the Bohdan Lepkyi Berezhany Lyceum, Olena Rusnachenko met with the school administration, assessed the lyceum’s readiness to transform into an academic institution, discussed with the management team a phased transition to specialised education, and identified key priority needs for the high-quality implementation of the upper secondary specialised school reform.
Particular attention was given to a practical understanding of the content of upper secondary specialised education – from curricula and subject area content to the practical development and implementation of modular courses aligned with selected profiles. The discussion also covered the need to prepare questionnaires and conduct surveys among students in the hromada to better understand their educational needs and to justify the formation of learning profiles accordingly. In addition, the participants analysed the institution’s staffing capacity, the state of its material and technical base, the need to systematise data, and the preparation of sound management decisions. A separate emphasis was placed on the importance of a well-designed information campaign for parents and teachers – as a key factor in reducing social tension and building trust in the changes.
A number of important tasks were outlined for the lyceum, the implementation of which will form the basis for its successful operation and the provision of genuinely specialised education. The key guiding principle across all processes was defined as the quality of education – the core value and main substantive focus of the upper secondary specialised school reform.
“Your main task is not merely to prepare the institution technically during the transition period, but to lay the educational foundation for a strong specialised school,” Olena Rusnachenko emphasised.
A working meeting with specialists of the Education, Youth and Sports Department focused on organising meetings with parents of students in grades 8–9 and planning further steps of interaction, including study visits for education managers aimed at strengthening the managerial capacity of school principals.
On the second day of the visit, Olena Rusnachenko worked directly with parents in educational institutions of the Berezhany City Council, moderating discussions on pathways after grade 9 and explaining the logic of the upper secondary specialised education reform. This format made it possible to combine management decisions with live dialogue. Parents actively engaged in discussions on transforming the hromada’s educational network and implementing the reform.
The visit confirmed that the implementation of the upper secondary specialised school reform in Berezhany hromada is moving into a practical phase and is based on a systemic approach, partnership between levels of authority, and open communication with hromada residents.
