The EU-funded EU4Skills programme, together with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and Microsoft Ukraine, has presented a plan to introduce digital technologies and tools into vocational education and training (VET). The programme will support the provision of IT equipment to schools, the training of teachers and managers in digital skills, as well as the provision of software and the modernisation of websites.
Started in 2019, the four-year EU4Skills Programme has already supported the ministry in conducting a series of online trainings on the installation and use of Office 365 and its tools for representatives of 25 regional educational and methodological centres. During 2021, the training centres will help all 732 vocational schools with the use of Office 365, which includes the implementation of online lessons, homework exercises and testing.
Currently, 21 pilot vocational schools have received modern websites that will make the communication of institutions more effective, as well as improve their image. The next step is to provide modern standardised websites for all vocational schools in the country. In addition, the EU4Skills Programme has conducted a digital competence training for around 1,000 teachers and VET schools managers and will organise online courses that can be used by all VET teachers.
EU4Skills also provided 100 laptops and sets of printers, projectors and servers to five pilot VET schools in Poltava and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, with a total value of about €100,000. More than 3,000 students and 300 teachers will be able to use the new equipment during the training.
EU4Skills aims at modernising vocational education and training institutions, and training school managers and teachers in seven pilot regions: Chernivtsi, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Rivne, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhia.
Digital skills are one of the six priority areas of the EU4Digital programme, which supports the implementation of digital skills strategies in the Eastern Partnership countries, acting to establish national coalitions for digital jobs and a competence framework for small businesses.