On 13–14 November, educational experts of the Polaris Programme carried out two expert visits to the Kolomyia urban hromada in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast and the Vyzhnytsia urban hromada in Chernivtsi Oblast. The purpose of the visits was to sign a memorandum of cooperation, analyse the school network, conduct focus groups with learners and parents, and discuss key management decisions in the context of the upper secondary school reform.
Kolomyia: A Shared Vision for Network Development and Educational Pathways
The visit of education experts — Oleh Fasolya, Artem Horobets and Tetiana Ozerova — to the Kolomyia hromada began with a meeting with the hromada head Bohdan Stanislavskyi and the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation. The document confirmed the shared readiness to work on qualitative improvements in education at the local level. For the Polaris Programme, this marked the final step in signing Memoranda with all partner hromadas selected in the second round at local and regional levels within the education area.
The visit focused on two key areas: building a high-quality, updated educational network and developing an effective financial management model aligned with both hromada needs and national requirements. During the school visits, the experts discussed the prospective network and the management decisions that will be crucial for the transition to specialised upper secondary education. A significant part of the work included interactions with 9th- and 11th-grade students of Lyceums No. 1, 5 and 9, as well as the Mykhailo Hrushevskyi Gymnasium.
Education expert Artem Horobets, who led workshops with ninth-graders, emphasised:
“Students clearly articulate their needs: they want more practice, understandable educational tracks and honest information about opportunities. Our task is to help the hromada build such a system.”
Meetings with parent communities became another important part of the visit. Parents raised questions about logistics, safety, access to different specialisations and fair allocation of resources.
“Explaining the essence of the reform to parents is our shared task. Parents are agents of change; their support and consistency determine how smoothly the transition to specialised education in the academic lyceum will occur,” noted education expert Tetiana Ozerova during meetings with parents at Lyceum No. 1 and the Hrushevskyi Gymnasium.
Vyzhnytsia: Dialogue with the Community and Planning Real Steps
Meanwhile, another group of Polaris education experts — Viacheslav Dolid and Olena Rusnachenko — worked in the Vyzhnytsia hromada. Their visit began with a meeting with the City Council Secretary Tetiana Belmeha.
During the discussion, the team analysed interim cooperation results and identified specific management tasks for the coming period.
“The hromada has already taken the first steps in updating its school network, but even more important decisions lie ahead. The upper secondary school reform requires precise planning and active engagement from all sides,” emphasised Viacheslav Dolid.
The experts also held a series of focus groups with 9th- and 11th-grade students of the Chornohuziv Lyceum. Learners shared their expectations about future educational specialisations, their motivations and what they anticipate from upper secondary education.
“Students understand their interests well, but they lack structured information about what the reform offers and how it will affect their future,” said Olena Rusnachenko.
A dialogue with parents confirmed the need for clear communication about the reform and the specifics of its implementation at the hromada level.
The visit concluded with a working meeting with the Head of the Education Department, Halyna Tokar, during which further steps for modernising the network and developing specialised upper secondary education in the hromada were discussed.
Shared Conclusion: Successful Change Requires Partnership at All Levels
Experts from both teams highlighted a key conclusion: the upper secondary school reform can succeed only when hromadas strategically manage their educational networks and rely on data, dialogue and trust.
“An educational network is the combined effort of all educational institutions, regardless of their founders. It can only be effective when these institutions do not simply compete for student enrolment but offer varied learning opportunities and enable each student to follow their own educational trajectory. That is why visiting the arts school with round-the-clock learner accommodation was crucial in understanding how it could be integrated into the reform of specialised upper secondary education,” summarised Oleh Fasolya.
The Polaris visits marked another step in strengthening cooperation with hromadas and building a modern, efficient, accessible and needs-based specialised upper secondary school system in Ukraine.
