Participants of the March event, hosted in Kryvyi Rih, discussed the topic of continuity in developing comprehensive skills for the new Ukrainian school – from elementary to higher education. The mixed format of the unconference allowed four hundred interested teachers from different cities of Ukraine, along with invited guests and partners, to join.
Educators have always been the vanguard of society, serving as a prime example of organisation, flexibility, mobility, and adaptability during challenging times. Today, they manage to maintain their students' attention both offline and online, whether those students are in Ukraine or abroad. Simultaneously, teachers continue to improve their skills and implement the new Ukrainian school concept, where the child is the primary focus and value, and the knowledge imparted becomes a useful lifelong asset. This year's EdCamp in Kryvyi Rih welcomed teachers from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Alexandria, Stryi, Vinnytsia, and even a guest from Tel Aviv. Cities like Dnipro, Truskavets, and Ivano-Frankivsk joined the event online. In total, nearly four hundred participants took part.
"The unconference is an extraordinary and significant event for our educators. Every year, active participants of the pedagogical movement – those who desire change – join. This is the first of three meetings this year. We are pleased by the demand and what we have to share. It was important that we discussed the skills children need to develop from elementary to high school – skills essential for lifelong success," said Tetiana KRIPAK, head of City Educational and Science Department.
EdCamp first took place in Kryvyi Rih in 2018. At that time, both the city authorities and Metinvest – who became the main partner of this new large-scale educational gathering – believed in this innovative idea. Since then, these meetings of "white crows" (as the responsible teaching community calls themselves) have been held annually, except for the tumultuous spring of 2022.
"Over many years of fruitful collaboration with city authorities, Metinvest has repeatedly been the organizer of innovative programs for educators. This includes the STEAM-camp, which helped science teachers enhance their professional skills, and the 'Educational Innovation Leaders' project. Together, we have significantly improved the material and technical base of educational institutions, establishing successful educational and practical centers and modern workshops. During the war, the company has focused on addressing security concerns, specifically equipping shelters. We have already created such shelters in the Inhulets residential area at Lyceum No. 127 and the 'Red Flower' kindergarten, as well as in three vocational education institutions in the Inhulets and Pokrovsky districts. All of this is to ensure our children do not lose precious learning time and can study safely," shared Oleksandr SHULIKA, HR Manager of Metinvest Integrated GOK.
The first Kryvyi Rih main unconference in 2025 was organized as a series of panel discussions, presentations by project coordinators, short sessions, workshops, and expert parallel tracks. Each EdCamp participant could engage in the discussions or learning sessions that interested them most. Guests from Metinvest and the Kryvyi Rih Future Foundation – an organization with extensive experience in coordinating educational initiatives – also contributed to the discussions. As Elena LESHCHENKO, the foundation's director, noted, the modernization of education and the high scores students achieve on independent testing demonstrate that their collective efforts are not in vain.
