On 18 August, the annual “Serpneva–2026” education conference was held in Kyiv, this year under the slogan “Education is shared responsibility”. More than 700 participants attended the event.

The conference brought together educators, education administrators, government officials, international partners, businesses, and civil society organisations to discuss educational transformations and preparation for the new academic year 2026/27.

First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, Prime Minister of Ukraine Serhii Koretskyi, and Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Andrii Butenko joined the event.

Ukraine starts the new academic year in the midst of the full-scale war; therefore, the safety and continuity of education remain absolute priorities. At the same time, special attention was paid to key educational reforms at “Serpneva-2026”.

The Swiss-Ukrainian DECIDE Project was widely presented during the event. The Project focuses on supporting the reform of specialised secondary education, in particular the establishment of a network of academic lyceums in communities, as well as supporting vocational education reform, implementing a national career guidance system for children and young people, and analysing and effectively managing expenditure on education.

Jacques Gerber, the Swiss Federal Council Delegate for Ukraine, addressed the participants with a welcoming speech.

‘The children and young people of today will shape Ukraine’s economy, democracy and society tomorrow. And education is the foundation, on which that future will be built. For many years Switzerland has been a committed partner of Ukraine’s education reforms. Through the Swiss-Ukrainian DECIDE Project we work closely with national authorities, local communities, and also schools across the country to strengthen education governance and support reform implementation,’ stressed Jacques Gerber.

Philippe Brügger, Deputy Head of Cooperation at the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine, also spoke at the panel discussion on the reform of vocational education.

Valentyna Poltorak, DECIDE Project Manager, shared insights from the main stage on how support for DECIDE directly impacts communities at the local level. She presented the results of the preparatory work for the launch of the specialised senior secondary school starting from 1 September 2027, as well as the next steps.

‘Today, we are developing a new educational trajectory for children and teenagers, centred on making conscious choices about their own future. DECIDE supports the Government and communities in implementing the reform of specialised senior secondary education and establishing a network of academic lyceums – in the last year alone, our experts supported nearly 700 communities on this journey. At the same time, we provide comprehensive support for the implementation of the vocational education reform, since academic lyceums are just one of the possible pathways after Grade 9.

But this choice should be a conscious one. Therefore, in partnership with the Government, DECIDE is implementing a national pilot scheme for a career guidance system, which has already brought together nearly 400 communities and 2,600 employers nationwide, and – most importantly – reached over 60,000 children and young people. Our aim is to bring together education, communities, and business to help young people find their career trajectory and build their future here in Ukraine,’ emphasised Valentyna Poltorak, DECIDE Project Manager.

Special attention was paid at the conference to the development of the national career guidance system. Nadiia Balabust, National Expert, DECIDE Coordinator of Development of Career Guidance System, spoke about the results of the first year of the pilot scheme and the practical tools available for providing career guidance to students in Grades 8-9.

Next year, the Project will ensure the training of more than 15,000 career guidance counsellors for secondary schools and expand the number of communities included in the national pilot scheme. Most importantly, however, it will enable teenagers to have greater confidence in their own abilities and to see the link between their studies today and their professional success tomorrow.

Schoolchildren can gain practical experience of different professions not only at enterprises, but also at the DECIDE career guidance hubs. Kateryna Nemyrovska, Head of Expert Group on Development of DECIDE Career Guidance Hubs, shared the results of the work of 10 hubs in six regions of Ukraine.

During almost a year of operation, they have been visited by more than 15,000 schoolchildren and students, hosted nearly 1,000 events, and 79 of our business residents have got involved in organising these activities. But most importantly, the hubs have become a place where children are not only able to learn about different professions, but also to test them out for themselves, work with modern equipment, and see the prospects for their professional development here in Ukraine. Part of this experience was also brought to “Serpneva–2026”: in the interactive zone run by DECIDE Project, participants could try out the equipment from the hubs in Chernihiv, Lviv, and Brovary.

DECIDE team also focused on effective financial management in the education sector. Mariia Drobot (Mishchenkova) and Serhii Yatskovskyi, DECIDE National Experts, presented the AIKOM-2 Financial Module – a practical tool for working with financial data.

Experts demonstrated the capabilities of the dashboard for analysing financial data in an interactive format together with the participants: they selected filter criteria, analysed specific indicators of education expenditure, and examined how the resulting data could be used to set priorities and allocate resources effectively.

See the highlights from “Serpneva-2026” in our photo report.

To view the photo gallery, click on the photo.