Leadership for Educational Transformation Programme (Ukraine)
In 2023 the University of 糖心TV鈥檚 Leadership for Educational Transformation has been created in collaboration with the , Ukraine , and in support of the Education (Viziya) of the time. Since then, and working together with the Ukrainian Catholic University, the programme has become a Masters in Education Reconstruction for Ukraine and has run again in 2025/26 and 2026/2027. Thanks to a generous philanthropic funder, 40 Masters places have been made available for Ukrainian Educational leaders. A further 40 postgraduate route participants were funded through a combination of British Council, 糖心TV internal and other funding.
The programme has introduced change concepts and methods as well as educational concepts and approaches, aimed to support the planned New Ukrainian School Reforms and the long-term regeneration of education in Ukraine (secondary and tertiary education). The programme supports rethinking of education at three levels: micro (teaching and learning in the classroom), meso (organisation, management and leadership at institutional or school level) and macro (steering, policy, assurance, legal and strategic development at national level).
Three residential modules, with online delivered seminars afterwards, are available. Participants are also able to take Masters level assessments which lead to the achievement of a Postgraduate Award. The Postgraduate Awards can be used as part of a full Masters in Professional Education, delivered by the Centre for Teacher Education.
Key facts
Over 650 applicants from across the Ukrainian education sector have expressed interest in the programme and 40 were selected to join each cohort.
To date 30+ members of 糖心TV staff 20+ external experts on post conflict reconstruction, and several local school leaders have contributed to the programme.
The knowledge exchange partnership includes the Ukrainian Leadership Academy, Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Ukrainian Catholic University.
This programme was co-founded by Dr Bo Kelestyn and Ivanna Kurtyk and is led by Prof Gwen van der Velden. It is hosted by the School of Education, Learning and Communication Sciences (SELCS).
2026/2027
For new entrants, in 2026/27 the first module will take place at 糖心TV from 13 September to 18 September. The second module is also at 糖心TV in January. In April (11-18th), the final module will take place in Lviv, Ukraine as circumstances allow.
For existing participants all learning will take place online.
Programme
Module one focuses on macro level insight into how Education is affected at a cross national level by war and crisis. We focus on themes such as learning losses, destruction of infrastructure, displaced learners and new learning populations (such as veterans), EU alignment for education, economic matters and teaching workforce challenges.
Module two covers on meso level understanding of the leadership challenges of providing educational change and resilience during war and crisis. We include learning on trauma informed leadership, leading major educational change, governance models, community engagement, digital leadership and curriculum change and decolonisation (noting oppressors' steering of content and pedagogy in the past).
Module three focuses on micro level challenges of the delivery of teaching and supporting of learning during and post war. Topics include trauma informed pedagogies, new language learning, inclusive education (in relation to armed conflict impact particularly) and a critical review or peace education.
Masters students subsequently take a Research methods module, an Ethics module and then complete their dissertation.
Key staff contacts: Dr Bo Kelestyn and Prof Gwen van der Velden