School in a Smartphone: How Technologies Are Changing Education in Ukraine

In March 2020, the whole world had to change its usual way of life. People have to be more attentive and pay greater attention to their health; many areas of our lives have undergone some fundamental reforms. This is also true for the education system.

In just three weeks, working in tandem with volunteers, teachers have managed to conduct 545 online lessons with 12.5 million students learning remotely.

New technological solutions have led to the revision and modernization of most learning processes making the system more flexible and adapted to current realities.

The authors of the "New Ukrainian school" concept say they were inspired by the achievements of their Finnish colleagues who have a long-practiced flexible approach to obtaining knowledge. Its key point is that the students themselves can choose a format of training and methods of assessment. "New Ukrainian school" has also built this possibility into the education system. Likewise, as in Finland, they have introduced the same availability of choice into the educational system.

However, the innovations have not finished yet. Many tasks and the requirements for their fulfilment have proved to be insufficiently adapted to be done online, which has resulted in many children still having difficulties with mastering the material and passing homework.

Also, many parents have expressed their concern about the increasing burden on their children. They argue that their workload has increased exponentially during the lockdown.