Today, the education sector is working on transforming high schools into specialised lyceums. The process consists of several stages and is to be completed on 1 September 2027. The intermediate stages include the development of plans for the formation of a network of educational institutions by September 2024. To discuss it, an info session “Municipal Educational Activities in the Summer” was held in the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast.
“I believe that there is no need to hurry with the official approval of the network of lyceums; it would be better to wait for 1 September 2024. The specialised education legislation is likely to be amended. Nevertheless, start forming a network of lyceums at the municipal level as early as this summer if you haven’t done it yet,” said Serhii Diatlenko, U-LEAD expert on education.
Local councils can decide on the creation of municipal lyceums. This requires a demographic analysis as well as preparatory work with children, educators and parents.
“For instance, if there are less than 150 fifth-year students in the municipality in 2023, independent formation of a lyceum is out of the question. You can, however, create a specialised educational institution by uniting with another municipality. That is why we should discuss, negotiate, plan, ‘negotiate’ regarding the creation of this kind of institution today,” said Mr Diatlenko.
It is a long process that requires the involvement of many stakeholders as well as communication. Olena Zaika, Head of the Department of Education, Youth and Sports of the urban municipality of Krasyliv in the Khmelnytskyi oblast, spoke about the experience of creating a lyceum in her municipality.
In this municipality with a population of 30,000, a specialised lyceum has been operating for three years now. Following the unification, there were more than ten III-level schools operating on their territory. However, the municipality was unable to develop them, the educational subvention was only enough to cover salaries, and the quality of education was lacking.
The transformation of the high school into a lyceum took more than a year. During this time, survey was conducted among students of years 10-11 regarding the subjects and directions they needed. A team of teachers ready to work specifically in high school was formed. Incidentally, out of more than 300 municipal teachers, only 75 expressed a desire to work at the lyceum. At the same time, there were no dismissals or layoffs of teachers in other educational institutions.
“Not a single teacher was harmed as a result of the establishment of the lyceum,” said Olena Zaika.
There was communication with parents, who were explained the learning conditions, transportation arrangements and the importance of competitive education, as well as that not all ninth-year students need high school, and vocational education could be a viable alternative. For this purpose, aptitude tests will be conducted for 9-year students.
In 2021, 167 students enrolled in the lyceum to study in seven groups. The next year, 6 more groups of 10-year students were created. In 2023, there were 300 students in the lyceum who were studying at the specialised level in one institution.
“Our lyceum students are winners of competitions of the Junior Academy of Sciences at various levels. This year, two graduates passed the national multi-subject tests with the full 200 points. During the survey, parents said that they stopped hiring tutors. We have high competition for students. Krasyliv is a city located 35 km from the regional capital, and its best students used to enrol into the regional lyceum. We fought hard to keep them in the municipality,” said Olena Zaika.
As a result, the municipality is able to constantly update and develop the physical infrastructure for high schools. The lyceum became a resource centre and an academic hub for high school students and educators. The technical vocational school, which constantly failed to meet student quotas set in the budget before, is not lacking applications either.
“Graduates will always look for better education. And the task of the founders of municipal lyceums is to create a competitive institution. With modern specialised directions, physical infrastructure and educators who are continuously improving their qualification level,” said Serhii Diatlenko. “That is why we need to start this work already today, in order to address these difficult challenges, which cannot be solved in a month or a year, by September 2027.”