On 05 May 2022, the international round table 'Education and Educators at War' was held to identify the specifics of different models of adaptation of teachers and educational institutions to war conditions, and to identify effective tools to help Ukrainian educators cope with the difficulties of wartime.
The round table was organised by Drogobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University, represented by the Chair of Law, Sociology, and Political Science together with the Ukrainian Educational Research Association. The event was initiated by Professor Svitlana Shchudlo.
The event was moderated by Oksana Zelena, Associate Professor at the Chair of Law, Sociology and Political Science, and Professor Oksana Zabolotna, President of the Ukrainian Educational Research Association (Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University).
The format of the round table included a number of discussion issues of concern to educators. Thus, the problems and needs of educators during the Russian-Ukrainian war were presented by Professors Oksana Zabolotna, Svitlana Shchudlo, and Associate Professor Oksana Zelena, in particular sharing the results of the survey of the UERA members.
The answer to the question of whether the category of "educational front" is real or imaginary was revealed by Dr. Iryna Kushnir (University of Nottingham (UK)), who outlined key aspects and "backstage games" of international education policy to exclude Russia and Belarus from international educational organisations. Video of the presentation.
The discussion was continued by Associate Professor Inna Pak (V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University) who is in Kharkiv since the beginning of the war and volunteers. She also renders psychological help and conducts classes. Video of the presentation.
The characteristics of the educational process in the temporarily occupied territory were presented in a very emotional way. The main reporters were Associate Professor Olha Goncharova (Bogdan Khmelnitsky Melitopol State Pedagogical University) Video of the presentation. and Olena Fudorova (Kherson Institute of Interregional Academy of Personnel Management). Video of the presentation
Vyacheslav Kudlay (Mariupol State University) heard first-hand about the situation in Mariupol and the resumption of work of the "war-torn" universities in their new location. Video of the presentation.
The support and assistance of foreign partner universities to Ukrainian teachers and academics were shared in a presentation by Wioletta Junik (Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland). Associate Professor Iryna Mirchuk was involved in the discussion.
All the speakers were sincere and emotional, as they shared their experiences, what they had gone through, not what they had read in books. They sincerely shared their dreams for the future - sincere and simple, connected with such things, which in peacetime are ordinary and habitual.