On 23–24 July, the Polaris Programme’s education team piloted the Education Practicum in Drohobych hromada - a new format of practical support for school leaders and education management teams in hromadas as they prepare for the new school year.
The practicum combined expert guidance with hands-on work on real-life management tasks. On the first day, the experts visited three educational institutions in the hromada, reviewed their management documentation, assessed its compliance with current requirements, and identified areas requiring further improvement. The following day, participants worked with specialists on specific documents, examined common mistakes, and developed solutions that could be applied immediately in their work.
The practicum focused on school statutes, education programmes, annual curricula, lesson timetabling, teacher workload and salary calculations, and the preparation of administrative orders ahead of the new school year. Particular attention was paid to ensuring that management documents complied with legal requirements while reflecting the specific needs of each educational institution.
According to Polaris Programme expert Serhii Diatlenko, today’s school leaders must navigate educational, financial, staffing, operational and safety legislation on a daily basis. As a result, there are no universal templates that can work equally well for every institution. The practicum was therefore designed not to provide school leaders with ready-made solutions, but to help them develop their own documents with expert support and adapt them to the needs of their schools.
Polaris Programme expert Viacheslav Dolid emphasised that modern records management is an important tool for effective school governance. Well-organised documentation provides legal certainty for management decisions and helps reduce the administrative burden on school leaders.
The Education Practicum demonstrated the demand for this format. Participants noted that hands-on work with their own documents, individual recommendations and the opportunity to discuss challenging issues with experts helped them prepare more effectively for the start of the new school year.
“It was important for us that the practicum went beyond theory. The experts worked directly with the documentation of our educational institutions, analysed common mistakes and, together with school leaders, identified solutions that can be applied immediately. This format not only strengthens the professional capacity of school leaders but also helps the hromada establish consistent approaches to organising the work of educational institutions in line with current legislation,” said Nataliia Chaikovska, Director of Yurii Drohobych Lyceum No. 16.
Based on the results of the pilot and participant feedback, the Polaris education team will refine the Education Practicum format and roll it out in partner hromadas to strengthen the management capacity of educational institutions.
