In the middle of a devastating war, education in Ukraine is undergoing fundamental reform.
With support from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and other international partners, schools are shifting from content-heavy curricula to emphasising applied skills, critical thinking and problem-solving; as well as adopting teaching practices that prioritise students’ individual needs and nurture democratic values and social responsibility.
Ukrainian schools are not alone in this. The OECD has connected each of the Ukrainian schools engaged in the reform with schools in other countries to learn from similar reform journeys.
Partnering with schools in Ukraine
And this is not a one-way route: these school partnerships have become powerful sources of learning and renewal for the partner schools as well.
Education South West provides an example of where working with Ukrainian schools has strengthened school culture, sharpened professional practice and reconnected education with its moral purpose.
At a human level, working with schools in Ukraine is an act of solidarity. It means standing alongside colleagues and young people whose education has been profoundly disrupted by conflict.
For staff and students in the partner schools, this has been a powerful reminder that schooling cannot be taken for granted.
It reinforces a shared belief that education is a public good and that schools have a responsibility that extends beyond their own gates and national borders.
Teacher benefits
Professionally, the learning has been equally significant. Ukrainian educators are working under extreme conditions, teaching through air‑raid warnings, power outages and disrupted routines. Yet their commitment to children’s learning and wellbeing is extraordinary.
Engaging with this reality is challenging our own assumptions about leadership, curriculum priorities and what really matters in schools. It is sharpening our thinking around clarity of instruction, curriculum coherence and the need to hold high expectations even in difficult circumstances.
These international partnerships work because learning flows in all directions.
Conversations that began around curriculum reform quickly became opportunities for deeper reflection. Every year Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science and the OECD are bringing the schools together to assess progress and co-create next steps.
At Education South West, school leaders have found themselves re‑examining subject choices, the balance between structure and flexibility, and the place of creativity and resilience in learning.
Seeing how other education systems enact shared principles in different contexts encourages humility and professional curiosity - qualities every strong education system depends on.
Living global citizenship
The impact on our school communities has also been tangible. Staff and students alike have developed a stronger sense of empathy and social responsibility.
For students, global citizenship has moved beyond abstract ideas to lived relationships.
These partnerships make learning real, relational and rooted in shared humanity. They help young people to understand that their lives are connected to others, and that responsibility does not stop at national borders.
International study visits have been particularly powerful as they take learning out of the abstract. Stepping into classrooms overseas forces you to question familiar routines and reflect more critically on your own practice.
High‑quality teaching principles are universal, but how they are enacted is shaped by context. Exposure to different systems encourages flexibility rather than compliance, and learning rather than judgement.
For Ukrainian children studying overseas or in international settings, these partnerships have also provided continuity and belonging.
Maintaining strong links with Ukrainian schools and educators ensures that language, culture and identity are valued rather than lost. This matters not only now but for the future, when many pupils will return and need to reintegrate confidently into the Ukrainian education system.
Future benefits
Looking ahead, international learning offers further opportunities.
Schools can learn much from one another about supporting student wellbeing alongside academic rigour, developing early‑career teachers through mentoring, and using technology to sustain learning when face‑to‑face education is disrupted.
The Ukrainian experience shows clearly that innovation often emerges from necessity, and that system resilience is built through collaboration, not isolation.
Ultimately, cross‑country partnerships challenge complacency. They broaden perspectives, renew motivation and reconnect educators with why they entered the profession in the first place.
At a time when the world can feel increasingly fragmented, schools working together across borders model something profoundly important: collaboration, hope and the belief that education can still bring people together.
Andreas Schleicher is director for education and skills at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Matthew Shanks is CEO of Education South West, a multi-academy trust with 14 schools, and UK link for the OECD partnerships programme
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