The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine sees two priority areas of cooperation with the Finnish Government within the framework of the reform of secondary education - changing pedagogical education (in general, teacher training) and expert evaluation of new educational standards.

Such desired directions of cooperation were outlined by the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Liliya Hrynevych, during the meeting with Finnish experts. The meeting took place within the framework of the preparation of a joint Ukrainian-Finnish project aimed at ensuring the reform of the secondary education system in Ukraine.

"We understand that teachers and their quality training is a key factor that determines whether an educational system will be successful or not. And during the reform of the Finnish system, a special emphasis was placed on the training of teachers, so we expect that this format will be the most successful," said Liliya Hrynevych.

Regarding the assessment of educational standards, the minister emphasized that now the Ministry of Education and Culture has almost finished work on a new standard for primary school, according to which curricula and materials for grades 1-4 of the New Ukrainian School will be prepared.

"We need an expert assessment of this standard, the educational programs created on its basis, and the fundamental approaches we implement in them. It is very important that the standard is well prepared, because the further preparation of other documents depends on it," the minister added.

Finnish educational experts - Raisa Veneleinen and Kirsi Lindroos - noted that the main ideas of the New Ukrainian School are based on those reform ideas that the whole world is talking about now.

"We are sure that our productive cooperation will bring good results not only for Ukraine, but also for Finland. After all, the more success stories of educational reforms, the more opportunities we have to learn from each other. I would like to note that we have studied in detail the documents describing your reform. I must say that this is a very ambitious plan, but this is the future for education," said Raisa Veneleinen.

The minister answered in detail all the experts' questions related to the work of the Ukrainian education system. It was about the role of postgraduate education institutes, and about the role of universities, and about the main changes in the administration of the industry.

We remind you that on October 4, 2016, the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Liliya Hrynevych met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Finland to Ukraine, Mr. Jukha Virtanen. As a result of the meeting, an agreement was reached and Finland's readiness to finance a project aimed at ensuring the reform of the secondary education system in Ukraine was confirmed. .

In February 2017, the Finnish side chose two consultants to identify the project - Raisa Veneleinen and Kirsi Lindroos. They have excellent knowledge in the field of education, in particular Ms. Veneleinen has many years of experience in the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland in various positions.

The consultants will work out a draft of the document, based on which further cooperation will be carried out. It should be based on the priorities specified in the concept of the New Ukrainian School. The main focus will be on reforms of basic secondary education and vocational training.