Supporting Schools in the Sumy Region to Improve Student Safety and Psychological Well-Being/SCHOOL UP Project
The war in Ukraine has severely impacted access to quality education, particularly in border regions, including the Sumy region. Constant shelling, air raids, and power outages have forced schools to operate under extremely difficult conditions, while the lack of properly equipped shelters poses a serious threat to the safety of students, teachers, and staff. Prolonged stress, displacement, and social isolation have significantly affected the psycho-emotional well-being of children, many of whom are forced to leave their homes or study in an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear. In response to these challenges, schools and communities are actively seeking ways to create safe learning environments and maintain access to education even in wartime conditions.
The project aims to enhance safety and provide psychological support for all participants in the educational process at five lyceums in the Sumy region:
- conducting safety trainings for educators
- providing additional training for school psychologists
- equipping safety classes within the schools
- setting up psychological relief classrooms
- arranging and improving school shelters
1. Monitoring the needs of schools by on-site visits to participating educational institutions, assessment of the conditions for the educational process, and identification of urgent needs and challenges for each school.
2. Security training for teachers (four-day program):
- mine safety training for educators in emergency situations
- fundamentals of psychosocial support
- first aid training
- interactive sessions on information security and cybersecurity
3. Webinars for teachers on psychological first aid. Online trainings to deepen teachers’ understanding of the psycho-emotional state of children and adolescents during wartime and practical advice on support strategies and communication techniques.
4. Strengthening knowledge of school psychologists and mentoring support. Online advanced training for school psychologists. Ongoing mentoring support from a professional psychologist-trainer to enhance the quality of student counseling.
5. Provision of Psychological Counseling for Students. School psychologists will deliver 14 additional psycho-emotional support sessions for students. Sessions will utilize the resources of newly created or improved psychological relief classrooms.
6. Arrangement of Safe Spaces in schools, creation and improvement of school shelters, safety classrooms, psychological relief classrooms. Specific needs will be individually assessed during monitoring visits.
Swiss Solidarity Funding
Participants: students, teachers, school administrators.
Involved Educational Institutions (Sumy Region):
- Konotop Lyceum No. 1
- Konotop Lyceum No. 7 named after Hryhorii Hulyanytskyi
- Konotop Lyceum No. 12
- Mykolaiv Lyceum
- Kosivshchyna Lyceum named after Lesia Ukrainka
January 1, 2025 – December 31, 2025
Sumy region
Professional Development Program: Supporting Schools in the Sumy Region in Improving the Safety and Psychological Well-Being of Participants in the Educational Process
Program Authors:
- Anna Loza – Coordinator of the Educational Direction, East SOS
- Mykola Overchenko – Manager of the Educational Direction, East SOS
- Kateryna Tymchenko – Manager of the Educational Direction, East SOS
The program aims to enhance the safety, psychological resilience, and digital literacy of teachers by equipping them with practical skills and interactive learning tools.
Key Competencies Gained by Participants:
- Psycho-emotional relief techniques to reduce stress, prevent professional burnout, and develop emotional self-regulation
- First aid skills for responding to critical situations involving children (e.g., injuries, allergic reactions, respiratory distress)
- Emergency response training, including evacuation procedures, reaction to threats, and principles for creating a safe educational environment
- Cybersecurity and information hygiene practices: protecting personal data, recognizing cyber threats, and safely navigating digital platforms
- Forum-theater method application: simulating crisis scenarios, analyzing behavior, and developing effective responses to complex educational challenges
- Integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into the educational process, effective use of e-learning tools, ensuring information and cyber security in the school environment
- Emotional and ethical competence
- Inclusive competence and safe learning environment
- Understanding the psychological and physiological development of students
- Digital competence
Full-time
Trainings
(Conducted under structured professional development programs)
- Teachers
- Deputy Headmasters of Educational Institutions
- Practical Psychologists
- Social Pedagogues
- Organizers of Educational Activities
- Methodologists
- Heads of Educational Institutions
General competencies:
GC.02 – Ability to engage in interpersonal interaction and work effectively in teams
GC.04 – Ability to make effective decisions in professional activities and demonstrate a responsible attitude toward duties, while motivating others to achieve shared goals
GC.05 – Ability to generate new ideas, identify and solve problems, and take initiative
GC.06 – Ability to reflect on, evaluate, and analyze one’s own pedagogical practice, and to identify directions for professional growth
GC.07 – Ability to learn throughout life and commit to continuous self-development
General Competencies of Teachers (Based on Professional Standard No. 1225, dated 29.08.2024)
A3.1 – Ability to navigate the information space, search for and critically evaluate information
A3.1.У2 – Critically evaluate the accuracy and reliability of information sources, and understand the impact of information on students’ consciousness, development, and decision-making
A3.1.У4 – Avoid dangers in the information space and ensure the protection of personal data
A3.3 – Confident use of digital technologies in the educational process
Б1.1 – Ability to consider the age-related and individual characteristics of students, including their psycho-emotional state
Б1.1.В1 – Monitor changes in these characteristics and make appropriate adjustments to the educational process
Б1.2 – Ability to apply strategies that support students’ self-esteem and emotional well-being
Б1.3 – Ability to foster motivation to learn and support students’ psychological state
Б1.3.У2 – Create conditions that facilitate
the development of students’ intrinsic motivation to learn
Б2.1 – Ability to recognize and manage one’s own emotional states
В1.1 – Ability to create and maintain a safe educational environment
В1.2 – Ability to provide pedagogical support to children in stressful situations
The training program lasts 4 days, with a total duration of 40 hours, including 32 hours of in-person intensive training (4 full days, 8 hours each) and 8 hours of independent work (review of materials, completion of practical tasks, preparation for skills assessment)
The program includes theoretical sessions, practical and interactive exercises, simulation of crisis situations using forum theater methods, reflective analysis of acquired knowledge and skills.
Total training volume: 30 academic hours
ECTS equivalency: 1 credit
The full training schedule can be viewed here
Upon completing the training, participants will:
Gain comprehensive knowledge and practical skills to enhance safety, psychological resilience, and digital literacy within the educational environment
Learn to assess their own stress levels and identify early signs of professional burnout
Acquire and apply effective strategies for burnout prevention and emotional self-regulation
Participants will be able to apply a range of emotional self-regulation techniques, helping them maintain inner balance even in crisis situations. Practical stress-resilience exercises will enhance their ability to engage effectively with students, colleagues, and parents—contributing to a positive psychological climate in the school.
They will also gain first aid skills for responding to critical incidents involving children, such as injuries, bleeding, allergic reactions, and respiratory arrest. Participants will learn to:
Assess the victim’s condition
Call emergency services appropriately
Apply basic resuscitation measures while awaiting professional medical assistance
In addition, participants will master clear algorithms of action in emergency situations, including:
Proper evacuation procedures
Organization of a safe educational environment
Effective coordination with rescue services
Participants will also develop digital security skills, including the ability to:
Recognize information threats
Critically evaluate the reliability of digital sources
Protect personal data
Apply principles of digital hygiene within the educational process
Through forum-theater sessions, participants will engage with real-life crisis scenarios, enabling them to:
Analyze behavioral responses
Explore and practice effective communication and coordination strategies
Strengthen their ability to act in stressful or emergency conditions
As a result of the training, participants will experience:
Increased professional confidence
Greater preparedness to manage non-standard situations in the school setting
Enhanced capacity to create and maintain a safe, supportive educational environment for all members of the school community
Donors
