Majority of Ukrainians want educational reforms, but not quite the same as those currently underway – poll
28 November 2024 13:46
More than two-thirds of Ukrainians (69%) believe that the national education system needs to be reformed, but not quite the same as it is now. These are the results of a large-scale survey conducted by the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine in cooperation with the Association of Political Psychologists of Ukraine in October 2024. The survey involved 1,513 respondents representing the adult population of Ukraine in the government-controlled territory, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
Ukrainians want changes in education, but do not understand reforms
42.5% of respondents believe that Ukrainian education is developing in the right direction, which is significantly more than in 2020, when the figure was only 26%. The current direction of education development is most supported in the south of the country (52.3%). However, almost a third of respondents (29.5%) disagree with the chosen course of reforms.
However, despite the general support for education reform, Ukrainians are skeptical about specific changes. For example, almost half of the respondents (49.5%) have a negative perception of the transition to 12-year education. At the same time, 74.2% support the profiling of high school, which is impossible without extending the duration of education.
Experts attribute this contradiction to the low awareness of citizens about the essence of the reforms. 60.7% of respondents are dissatisfied with the level of their awareness of the reforms that are being planned and implemented in the field of education today. The worst situation with awareness is observed in the eastern region, where 78.9% of respondents are dissatisfied with their level of knowledge about educational changes.
Admission to universities: corruption and lack of awareness of new rules
Ukrainians continue to perceive admission to higher education institutions as a corrupt process. 41.7% of respondents believe that this year’s admission campaign was not without corruption. Interestingly, the opposite opinion prevails among the families of successful applicants – 47.4% believe that the admission process is not corrupt.
Citizens’ awareness of the new procedure for admission to higher education institutions was extremely low. Only 15.5% of respondents claimed to be aware of the changes, but even this figure was overstated. It is noteworthy that out of 400 teachers surveyed, only 6 people could name such an innovation as the introduction of state grants for education.
At the same time, after a detailed explanation of the new admission rules, 43.5% of respondents rated them positively, and only 17.8% rated them negatively. Ukrainians were especially positive (81.5%) about the introduction of state grants for contract students.
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Education during the war: discrepancies in assessments
Assessments of the quality of education during the war differ significantly between educators and parents of students. Educators are mostly positive about the learning outcomes (55.5% vs. 38.6% of negative assessments). Instead, negative assessments prevail among families with pupils and students (44.9% vs. 42.6% positive).
Compared to last year, the number of students studying full-time has slightly increased by an average of 4%. The smallest growth in the full-time format is observed in higher education. Overall, 38.6% of schoolchildren, 29.2% of vocational school students, and 27.3% of university students study in the regular mode.
Despite the difficulties, the current learning outcomes are better than during the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020, only 27.1% of respondents gave positive assessments, while 55.7% assessed the results negatively.
Decline in trust in the leadership of the education sector
Over the past year, the level of trust in the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has significantly decreased. While in 2023, 40.8% of respondents trusted the Ministry of Education and Science, this figure has now dropped to 34.6%. Among educators, the level of trust has decreased even more significantly – from 63.9% to 49.8%.
Trust in Education Minister Oksen Lisovyi has also decreased. The level of trust in him fell from 28.5% to 21.9%, while the level of distrust increased to 24.6%. Paradoxically, the level of recognition of the Minister has also decreased – from 75.6% to 63.5%.
Experts attribute the decline in trust to the lack of communication by the industry leader. The minister’s low media activity may have a negative impact on the effectiveness of his work and the perception of educational reforms in general.
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