In Chernivtsi Oblast, the Polaris education team held two Management Practicums for heads of general secondary education institutions and hromada education management: on 3–5 August in the Hlyboka hromada and on 6–7 August in the Vyzhnytsia hromada.
This time, the focus was on preparing educational institutions for the new academic year and on the management documents that largely determine how schools organise their work. How can statutes, educational programmes, curricula, staffing and workload arrangements, timetables, and administrative orders comply with legislation, reflect the specific needs of each institution, and at the same time avoid unnecessary bureaucracy?
The practicum combined on-site work in educational institutions with joint learning sessions. Polaris experts visited schools in the hromadas, reviewed their documents, analysed common problem areas, and then worked together with school leaders on how to improve these documents and turn them into practical management tools.
“Debureaucratisation is a philosophy of respect for the time, work, and mission of educators,” emphasised Polaris expert Viacheslav Dolid. According to him, the problem arises when documents cease to be a tool for organising work and become an end in themselves, with school leaders spending time producing paperwork about the work instead of organising the work itself.
Polaris expert Oleh Fasolia also highlighted the broader impact of this work: “The success of educational institutions, as well as the achievements and learning outcomes of students, depend on the institutional capacity of education management.”
For hromadas and school leaders, this format provided an opportunity not only to receive recommendations, but also to work with their own documents, ask experts specific questions, and develop solutions that can already be applied while preparing for the new academic year.
“The value of such a practicum lies in the opportunity to look at familiar management processes from a new perspective. In some cases, this means eliminating unnecessary procedures; in others, streamlining approaches. Most importantly, it helps identify what is truly needed for a school to operate effectively,” said Halyna Tokar, Head of the Department of Education, Culture, Healthcare and Sports of the Vyzhnytsia City Council.
The practicums once again demonstrated the strong demand for a format that combines expert support, work with real-life cases, and practical solutions for hromadas.
The Polaris Management Practicums will soon continue in other hromadas across Ukraine, including the Kobleve hromada in Mykolaiv Oblast, Pivdenne hromada in Odesa Oblast, Rava-Ruska hromada in Lviv Oblast, and Khotyn hromada in Chernivtsi Oblast, among others.
