In our situation, the concept of “safe school” needs a revision. In wartime, security procedures that are clear to everyone should be in place in general secondary schools.
A safe educational environment means a space where a child can learn and develop in an atmosphere of trust and growth. And, most importantly, feel protected. Everyone who works in a school needs to have a clear understanding of how to create a sense of security for children in their daily communication. In order to be a source of a sense of security, confidence and stability for students, you should balance your mental health and consciously strengthen your mental and emotional resilience. Security is a system where each component, including physical, psychological and informational security, is of great importance.
The team of Pro.Svit NGO has launched the project “Pro.Communities: Safe and Favourable Environment for Children’s Education” in order to develop a safe educational ecosystem in municipalities. In their cooperation with educators, they used the TOT (training of trainers) format. This format aims to prepare the participants for the role of trainers, who will further form a culture of safe conduct in their municipalities.
About the project
Pro.Svit began with the competitive selection of trainers. During the selection process, Pro.Svit focused on the participation in educational programmes and projects over the past three years, ideas or initiatives that they have implemented; motivation and capacity to implement the acquired knowledge and skills in professional activities, etc. 185 participants from 22 oblasts of Ukraine signed up, and 43 of them passed the selection.
Those selected were invited to attend training in Kyiv. There, the final selection stage was held and communities of 30 trainers from 17 oblasts were formed.
The future trainers were trained according to the international module “Educational Trip to Israel”. They saw the ecosystem of a safe environment for children to learn in Israel: they discovered the structure of the rear command and its response methods; learned about the roles and responsibilities of state institutions; explored cultural and social factors that influence responsiveness; talked with management experts and professionals; visited relevant institutions; identified a number of methods/approaches/practices that can be applied in Ukraine.
Following the trip, two final online meetings were held, dedicated to the adaptation of Israel’s best practices to the Ukrainian context, as well as a public discussion “Education and Security: What Can Ukraine Learn from Israel’s Experience?”. The Education Ombudsman of Ukraine, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science and Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Institute of Education Development, the project trainer and the team of Pro.Svit were invited to join the event. The discussion was broadcast live and reached 1,467 viewers from 493 municipalities in all oblasts of Ukraine.
Next, the trainers selected 30 responsible representatives of municipalities who, together with the trainers, completed the training programme to further conduct training in their municipalities.
This is how 30 pairs of trainers were formed from trainers and community leaders. These pairs underwent 6 days of training. They practised coaching skills and reflections, developed and presented a training session and learned about the Safe Community programme.
Following the training, all pairs of trainers developed 20-hour programmes of events, which they presented in their own and neighbouring municipalities of the oblast, and engaged those willing to further participate in the training cycle.
For instance, more than 60 presentations on the project were held in 258 municipalities for about 3,600 educators, representatives of local self-government bodies, deputy heads of municipalities in charge of education, etc.
Trainers were to arrange training for fixed groups of 20–26 people from at least 10 secondary schools in their own and neighbouring municipalities. That is, two people could apply for training to represent one school, such as a principal or their deputy, a teacher, a psychologist, etc.
Since there were many more people willing to participate in the training programme than there were places, the trainers had to select participants.
“We did not expect such a large number of applicants. 80 people applied from two municipalities alone,” said Iryna Leontieva.
Based on the results of the selection, the trainers formed training groups of teachers, school administration, psychologists, social educators, etc. 779 participants representing 440 schools and various institutions (113 municipalities) were selected for further training in the format of a training cycle. In addition to teachers and the administration of secondary schools, social educators, psychologists-practitioners, facilitators, speech therapists, professionals representing various departments (education, social and humanitarian policy, health care) and inclusive resource centres, centres for professional development of educators, children’s services, village councils, after-school club coaches, TAs, after-school child care teachers, labour protection engineers, security professionals, nurses and even school secretaries.
During the training cycle, the participants explored the meaning of a safe and favourable child-centred environment, as well as the concept of safety and its components: physical, psychological and informational safety. The role of interdepartmental cooperation in creating a safe educational environment was discussed. The trainers also conducted a simulation game “Safe Community”. To support the trainers at this stage, the Pro.Svit team held online meetings.
At the end of the training cycle, all participants and teams of participants representing the same institution had to hold information events for their colleagues. They adopted the format of presentations from their trainers and conducted these events as training sessions.
Thus, the participants of the training cycles have already conducted 416 events for 7851 educators from 454 educational institutions in 120 municipalities.
According to preliminary estimates, the project has already reached about 250,000 students. Students’ parents were also involved in the training.
Last but not least, the participants continue to teach their students and teams even after the project is over.
Some trainers have already held final meetings and awarded certificates of professional development to their participants. The others plan to award the certificates in December. The participants have already received 30-hour advanced training certificates (1 ECTS credit), gifts, as well as methodology and teaching materials.
A separate final event was held for trainers. They received the manual “Pro.Safety: Safe Educational Ecosystem of the Municipality” as well as 120-hour advanced training certificates (4 ECTS credits), and 30 representatives of municipalities received 60-hour advanced training certificates (2 ECTS credits).
At the event, Pro.Svit received a lot of positive feedback from the trainers:
“This project allowed me to grow,” said Ivanna Valko.
“You can safely add +75 educators from the Kharkiv Oblast to the total number of participants. They will definitely continue to study,” said Tetiana Kytychenko.
“We are to hold a session on security every month in every educational institution of the Mykolaiv Oblast,” said Oksana Myklashevska.
“We boosted our professional skills. We have become one big family, and I now have people I can turn to in every corner of Ukraine,” said Liliana Mykhaniv.
The project participants filled out the entry and exit questionnaires. These questionnaires had a self-assessment section to evaluate the level of knowledge about a safe environment in educational institutions, as well as a quiz to objectively assess the success of studies.
The dynamics of participants’ self-assessment of their knowledge is given in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Dynamics of project trainers’ knowledge
The analysis of the trainers’ answers to the open-ended questions of the questionnaire showed a deeper understanding of safety and their own role in ensuring a safe educational environment compared to the results of the initial evaluation. In particular, the trainers used specific terms in their answers, gave detailed answers and ranked them by importance.
Results of the quiz also showed positive dynamics of changes: the number of correct answers increased by 15.2%.
On a scale from 1 to 10 (where 1 is the lowest level), the participants rated their readiness to implement the course of the Pro.Communities project by an average of 9.5 points, which is 1.5 points more compared to the initial evaluation.