Polohy, a city in Zaporizhzhia region, knows from experience how career guidance should be conducted. Polohy community is large and diverse, comprising not only an industrial centre but also eight starosta districts with villages. The region has therefore developed as both an industrial and agricultural area, with sunflowers symbolising it on the flag.

Prior to the full-scale invasion and occupation, the following enterprises were operating successfully here: the Polohy Oil Extraction Plant (PJSC), Dniprokeramika Ltd, the Mineral Mining Company Ltd quarry, the Coagulant Chemical Plant, and two large railway depots (one for carriages and one for locomotives). Visits to these enterprises significantly influenced school leavers’ future career choices.

‘The shortage of skilled workers was always a pressing issue, so careers guidance is a painstaking annual task for us. Today, however, a new challenge has emerged – we clearly understand that after victory, everything will have to be rebuilt, and there will be a great need for workers,’ says Stanislav Khyzhniak, Director of Polohy Lyceum No. 4.

From as early as grade 7, children were given the opportunity to explore a variety of professions. Schoolchildren visited courts, railway junctions, and police stations. They immersed themselves in the world of forensic science and challenged gender stereotypes. As a result, school leavers made conscious choices about their profession and carried on entire family traditions of work.

‘We prioritised supporting local producers and regional development long before the pandemic or the full-scale invasion. DECIDE Project helped us to revive living traditions of communication and broaden our horizons. The children saw the modern labour market and in-demand professions right here in Zaporizhzhia for themselves,’ adds Iryna Shvets, Deputy Director of the Lyceum.

The full-scale invasion forced residents to flee their homes, but in Polohy they are convinced that a community is not defined by walls or geographical coordinates, but by people, a shared identity, and faith in the future. When residents are forced to move because of the war, the greatest risk to the education system is the loss of a living connection between classmates, friends, and teachers.

However, teachers and administrators in Polohy community did not allow circumstances to put their children’s future on hold. Rather than simply waiting for the occupation to end, they have transformed the development of the career guidance system into a powerful tool for bringing the community together. It is a dynamic network in which local authorities, businesspeople, teachers, and parents work together to help teenagers adapt to the realities and demands of the labour market.

‘We live and breathe this – the desire to show our young people different paths to a professional future,’ says Iryna Kryvytska, the community’s career coordinator.

How DECIDE career guidance system works

The traditional approach to careers guidance in schools is often limited to dry tests or random excursions. Instead, an effective system is needed that clearly aligns the demands of the labour market with the actual skills of young people. The career guidance model that DECIDE helps to establish offers a unified network of institutions: the region, the local community, the education sector, and the business sector.

At community level, a careers coordinator acts as a manager: they establish cooperation with business owners, organise regular excursions and masterclasses, and open the doors of real companies to students in Grades 7–9.

 

 

During an excursion to a dental clinic

This also helps schools to rethink the importance of vocational education. Instead of the former wariness and competition for students, a healthy partnership is emerging, as modern vocational and technical colleges are changing rapidly and are ready to offer high-quality, competitive education.

Career counsellors work directly in schools – these are dedicated teachers and psychologists who, through optional modules and cross-curricular practical sessions, help children to put together their first career portfolio and recognise their strengths. In particular, after a pilot project in the spring, the optional JOBS course has been fully implemented at Polohy Lyceum No. 4 since September for students in Grades 8–9, whereas extracurricular career guidance activities involve students in Grades 7–9 from all schools in the community.

‘Firstly, vocational guidance and career counselling are about helping children explore and understand themselves, identify their strengths and aptitudes for particular industries. Next, they analyse how they can put their aptitudes for certain professions into practice, learn to write CVs and look for opportunities for work experience and employment. Career counsellors also organise visits to businesses jointly with the career coordinator, hold careers fairs, and invite successful professionals from different sectors. The system works like this,’ explains Valentyna Poltorak, DECIDE Project Manager.

Community career coordinators and school career counsellors in the pilot regions have been trained by DECIDE Project experts and the Zurich University of Teacher Education, using programmes adapted to Ukrainian conditions.

The programme comprised several components: an in-depth exploration of career guidance as a component of the economic and social development of the community and the region, and the development of an understanding of life skills and future educational and career pathways. The proposed career guidance materials have already been piloted in many European countries.

Digital tools to address the challenges of distance learning

‘In the first sessions of the JOBS course, we told the children straight away that we would be learning and exploring everything together. When preparing for the lessons, we ourselves learn a great deal about different industries, so it really is a joint effort. The teenagers teach us too, and their thoughts provide a wonderful stimulus for reflection. Of course, the remote format and the quality of the connection are a challenge – not everyone has a stable internet connection. However, we are moving forward with confidence. Most importantly, the students' self-perception is changing: they are learning to analyse their own strengths, as well as to identify and describe the positive qualities of their classmates,’ says Yana Skydan, a careers counsellor.

The shift to distance learning, prompted by the evacuation and the security situation, proved to be a major challenge, but the community’s career counsellors quickly adapted to the new circumstances. Moving away from monotonous lectures, they transformed every online lesson into an interactive quest.

They use Padlet interactive boards, the Mentimeter platform, and shared Google Slides – making it much more engaging for active young people to explore their potential. The JOBS course introduces students to a range of industries: from traditional professions to modern specialisms, such as agricultural drone operators or cybersecurity specialists.

‘The children now feel free to share their dreams and rethink their plans for the future. Within the framework of the project, schoolchildren are given special worksheets in digital format or keep separate workbooks to track the development of their own professional portfolios step by step. Children learn to see new opportunities where others see only difficulties, and to align their own dreams with the real needs of society,’ notes Yana Skydan.

Teachers say that, from a subject-specific perspective, they only know the children from one angle, and such activities help them to open up, establish strong communication, and reveal hidden talents. Children also learn to analyse their strengths and weaknesses, which helps them to balance their own ambitions with realistic possibilities.

‘Now children can analyse the pros and cons of each profession in detail and understand what is needed to pursue it. Sometimes a child’s aspirations, the realities of the situation, and their personal abilities do not align – for example, they may have a keen interest in a particular profession but lack the psychological resilience to cope with it. With the help of career counsellors and the project, students can make up their minds, because overcoming these discrepancies requires time, discussion, and experience,’ adds Iryna Shvets.

 

Excursion to the MTM TV channel

 

Live excursions: From garment manufacturing to the museum

What excited the students the most was the return to live communication in an offline setting. Eight large-scale excursions have already been organised for the children currently in Zaporizhzhia. They attended cookery workshops, visited dental anatomy centres, modern veterinary clinics, and the MTM TV channel, where they learnt about the behind-the-scenes work of editors, camera operators, and sound engineers.

 

Excursion to a veterinary clinic

 

During an excursion to the Zaporizhzhia Vocational College of Hotel and Catering, the teenagers tried to be chefs, prepared tasty treats using modern equipment, and learnt how to progress from a beginner to a high-demanded and well-paid specialist.

 

During the excursion to the Zaporizhzhia Vocational College of Hotel and Catering

 

‘At the veterinary clinic, the children were shown the most modern equipment and had their misconceptions dispelled about animal treatment being accompanied by pain and fear; they were also told about the in-demand profession of veterinary assistant, who maintains patient records and performs half of the clinic’s work. In the dentistry department, the students were impressed by the high-tech equipment and the clear division into specialisms: paediatric, adult, and surgical dentistry,’ says Iryna Kryvytska.

The teenagers were also impressed by their visits to the regional library, which turned out not to be a quiet room full of books but a modern youth hub with 3D printers and social media specialists, as well as to the regional museum, where the children were introduced to the concept of interactive cultural spaces.

 

In the library

 

‘During every excursion, we convey to the children that they should choose a profession they are passionate about. Our events challenge outdated stereotypes. For instance, at the garment factory, teenagers saw state-of-the-art equipment and realised that the modern garment industry is a prestigious, high-tech sector requiring advanced computer skills. After visiting the hospital’s rehabilitation ward, one of the young girl athletes was so inspired that she decided to become a rehabilitation specialist, having discovered a whole new side to the field,’ says Iryna Kryvytska.

The residents of Polohy proudly demonstrate their achievements in evacuation to the students. The aforementioned garment factory was not relocated – it was set up from scratch here in Zaporizhzhia. The community won a grant to purchase modern equipment and launched production in a utility company’s premises.

‘At present, skilled women from Polohy work there, sewing national symbols and fulfilling orders for other parts of Ukraine, serving as a living example of a resilient business for the children. It is a wonderful platform for career guidance. At the same time, for children living outside the city or abroad, we organise high-quality online tours, for example to the Coca-Cola or Profi Choice factories, to ensure that knowledge is accessible to everyone,’ says Serhii Bandurka, Head of the Department of Education, Youth and Sport at the Polohy City Council.

 

Excursion to a garment factory

 

Safety comes first, and extensive parental support

Organising in-person meetings in a city near the front line requires a tremendous sense of responsibility. The community leadership took a systematic approach to this: the head of the military administration issued an order to establish a special coordination council. Its membership comprises, on an equal footing, representatives of the administration, teachers, student leaders, and the parents’ community. Every step and action plan is discussed in detail at working group meetings.

‘Our main task is to provide students with as much high-quality information as possible, so that their choices are informed and not imposed upon them. But safety always comes first. Before every excursion, we thoroughly investigate the location: we personally check where the children will be during an air-raid alert and whether there is a reliable, well-equipped bomb shelter there. When parents see this level of organisation, their fears are completely allayed and they wholeheartedly support this process,’ emphasises Maryna Didenko, Deputy Head of the Polohy City Military Administration.

The career guidance system actually makes life easier for families. Often, parents can only advise their child on where they themselves studied, or try to fulfil their own unfulfilled dreams through their child. Here, however, the choice is vast.

‘Although our Lyceum 4 is involved in the project, there are currently seven institutions in the community where over 2,000 children study. We have never divided students into “ours” and “theirs” – they are all ours, from Polohy. Therefore, together with the education department, we involve absolutely all interested schoolchildren in the community in career guidance events and trips, without any exceptions,’ emphasises Stanislav Khyzhniak.

Investing in the community’s recovery

Despite all the difficulties, relocation has opened up new opportunities for the residents of Polohy, as children in Zaporizhzhia have been able to visit companies and organisations that simply did not exist in their home city. The community is striving to make the most of these circumstances in order to retain its human capital.

Polohy community also actively prepares for the 2027 reform of specialised secondary education, and systematic work with young people this summer was enshrined in the updated implementation plan for the Strategy of Community Development for 2026–2027. The roles of career counsellors, which are currently filled mainly on a voluntary basis, are set to be established on a permanent basis in educational institutions ahead of the launch of the 2027 reform. Despite the lyceum operating remotely, with the support of the regional authorities, teachers plan to transition to a blended learning format in order to retain school leavers in their educational network.

‘We have not simply adapted to these realities; we are trying to make the most of new opportunities that were not available in Polohy. This is important because, once the community is de-occupied and people return, we will need people in absolutely every profession – there will be plenty of work. We are keen to retain our young people, as they represent a modern outlook and fresh approaches to solving problems. The war has changed both us and our children, but it has also revealed new needs in the labour market. For example, the country will be in dire need of psychologists, rehabilitation specialists, and skilled workers. Whereas higher education used to be held in such high regard, now live excursions help teenagers see each profession from the inside and realise that any honest work – from a fitter to a qualified lawyer – is important and prestigious,’ says Serhii Bandurka.

Educators believe that investing in high-quality careers guidance now is a long-term contribution to the development of the state as a whole. After all, successful career choice for teenagers saves them from wasted time, unrealistic expectations and the unnecessary expenditure of state or parental funds on studying a subject in which they will never work.

‘The development of careers guidance is an investment not only in children’s future, but also in the development of our entire community. And it is these successful local initiatives that ultimately make up Ukraine,’ concludes Iryna Kryvytska.

 

Mariia Buleiko (Markovska)