Scaling social and emotional learning in Ukraine: Harnessing teacher training networks and technology

• In Event: Leveraging Technology for Social and Emotional Learning at Scale

Proposal

Since the full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine’s education system has been under attack with 3,582 educational facilities damaged as of August 2023 (Hrynevych, 2024). Many students are entering their fourth consecutive year of online, or hybrid, learning since COVID, with further disruptions to education taking place with widespread power cuts that severely limit access to electricity and internet, as well as frequent air raids. The stress associated with exposure to violence, loss of relationships, and ongoing disruption in schooling, and other basic needs has a profound effect on children’s social and emotional development, wellbeing, and learning. In response, the EASEL Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the LEGO Foundation are embarking on a national rollout of social and emotional learning (SEL) Kernels to make culturally relevant, play-based SEL strategies available to teachers across Ukraine via a public website.
In the 2023-2024 school year, SEL Kernels were adapted for cultural relevance based on findings from landscape research which included focus groups and surveys with teachers and teacher trainers across Ukraine. The adapted Kernels were then piloted in 51 primary and lower middle school classrooms in 10 schools across five regions. During the pilot, teachers accessed printed materials including Kernels, Teacher Supports and an implementation tracker. Throughout the pilot, teachers completed weekly implementation surveys to share. Focus groups were conducted with teachers at the midline (n=45) and end-line (n=26) of the pilot project to better understand teachers’ perceptions and use of the Kernels as well as their preference for accessing materials.
In focus groups, pilot teachers shared both the barriers and opportunities of accessing materials online versus in paper copy. Teachers preferred to receive materials in both offline and online formats. Teachers who preferred offline materials cited reasons such as concerns about internet issues and power cuts, quality of professionally printed materials, ease of notetaking on hard copies, and portability to air raid shelters. Teachers who preferred online materials cited reasons such as ease of accessing materials in different contexts, concerns about printing and ease of printing copies of supplemental materials. Shared by both those who preferred online and offline materials were teachers’ ideas about how Kernels could be used or adapted during time in air raid shelters. Finally, teachers shared a preference to be able to download all materials on the website.
Given the pilot findings, we elected to deliver materials for the national rollout via an open source, bilingual website. Teachers can access the materials directly on a webpage for use during times when electricity is available, and use downloaded versions of the materials when electricity is unavailable.
As we continue to leverage technology to reach all primary and lower middle school classrooms with crucial strategies for social and emotional learning in Ukraine, we will consider how to provide options for accessing materials to represent the diverse preferences of teachers. We will also continue to provide access to materials in ways that are responsive to the changing demands and needs brought about by the war.

Authors

• Sonya Rose Temko, EASEL Lab, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• Oksana Roma, The LEGO Foundation

• Emily Stolz, EASEL Lab, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• Bryan Nelson, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• Stephanie Jones, Harvard Graduate School of Education