Bohdan Kolos for NP – UN.
Teacher educators wanted to travel to Ukraine this past summer to present their seminars in person, but it didn’t happen.
The teacher members of the Institute of Teacher Qualifications resolved to have another successful 2021 summer in presenting additional qualification programs using the ZOOM program for teachers in Lviv Oblast and others from Western Ukraine.
A previous Canada Ukraine Foundation (CUF) Chair of the Education Committee, Nadia Luciw, called this summer program a “resounding success” during these difficult times.
In the previous year, the various Canadian lecturers worked with their Lviv facilitators, planned their presentations and developed a teaching manual to be used in the 2021 summer, which will continue to be updated in future years.
The eleven Canadians with over twenty Ukrainian teacher facilitators had over 200 participants in each course. In addition, the teacher participants listened to the presentations in their area of interest. Finally, each section produced a group assignment that provided them with certification for continuing their teaching profession, a requirement in Ukraine. The local Lviv certification education centre provided the required diploma, and the Canadian Institute for the Professional Development of Teachers based in Toronto also supplied a certificate.
In previous years CUF had provided funding for travel and resources for the Canadians. In addition, the local Ukrainian Departments of Education provided the funding for local accommodations and funding for the location of the programs.
A former Ukraine Minister of Education, Hanna Novosad, noted that the Education system is dramatically falling behind. In an interview with the web site “openDemocracy”, she said, “ In the Times Education World University Ranking of a thousand, Ukraine’s universities come in the 800s, and in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, previously known as the Shanghai Ranking, they don’t figure at all.”
It is no secret that as a former Toronto teacher and School Board mathematics consultant, Christine Zeltway stated, “The results of the International Mathematical Literacy Assessment of 15-year-old students (PISA) proved that Ukraine is lower than the OECD average. Therefore, teachers must focus on students, not on the subject, considering students’ characteristics and different learning styles.”
She continued, “the Institute aims to help teachers teach mathematics in such a way that it is exciting and effective, and that students enjoy the process.”
The Canadian members of the Institute came from a variety of Canadian cities and New Jersey. They included Nadia Luciw (Program Coordinator and Consultant), Bohdan Kolos (School Leaders-Principals), Sofia Berezowsky (Ukrainian Language), Borislaw Bilash (Natural Sciences), Orest Haras (School Leaders-Principals), Melanie (Malanka) Kovaluk (School Psychologists), Iryna Perehinets (Teaching Foreign Languages), Mark Stadnyk (School Leaders-Principals), Christine Yurchuk (Vice-Principals), Oksana Wynnyckyj-Yusupovich (Primary grades- New Ukrainian School), and Christine Zeltway (Mathematics).
In previous years CUF had provided funding for travel and resources for the Canadians. In addition, the local Ukrainian Departments of Education provided the funding for local accommodations of the instructors, the participants and funding for the location of the programs.
Whether the Canadian team will be able to travel in-person to Ukraine in 2022 to share their Western knowledge and experience depends on the spread of the pandemic.
Support for the program can be made by visiting the web page of the CUF at cufoundation.ca/donate or by mail at 620 Spadina Ave. Toronto, ON M5S 5H4
Share on Social Media
