Ukraine

In 1997-1998 there were over 500,000 teachers employed in the Ukrainian educational system of which over 90 percent of them with a higher education. Ten universities, 29 pedagogical institutes, and 50 secondary pedagogical schools trained teachers. A number of industrial pedagogical technicums prepared teachers for vocational technical schools. The Kiev, Odessa, Rovno, and Slavic teacher training institutes, as well as 40 secondary pedagogical schools (uchilishcha), have specialized departments for training preschool and primary school teachers. The curricula include pedagogy, psychology, anatomy, hygiene, and methods of teaching specially designed for working with young children. Students can specialize in art, music, household arts, and physical training. Some of the pedagogical schools are affiliated with higher educational institutions offering teacher training programs. In this case, institute and university professors teach part of the courses at the schools. An agreement between the institutions can allow the graduates of uchilishcha to get advanced placement at the institutes or universities.

The curricula of higher educational establishments training secondary school teachers are constantly modified to include the innovative methodologies and experiences. The common practice for the students is to get training in two areas of specialization (e.g., biology and geography or the Ukrainian language and literature). Students regularly take part in the teaching practice at primary or secondary schools. Now that educational institutions have more freedom, they sometimes allow their students to practice teaching on the university level, which partially makes up for the lack of special teacher training programs for higher educational establishments.

In the Soviet Union all the graduates were assigned to teaching positions by the state and had to work there for at least three years. This practice has been given up; finding a job has become the students' responsibility. According to the Law on Education, the weekly workload of secondary school teachers is 18 hours. They get extra pay for teaching additional hours or doing other kinds of work (e.g., supervising a group of students or correcting written assignments). Teachers have to go through the attestation process once every five years. It consists of two parts, which testify to their knowledge of the subject, as well as the efficiency of their curricular and extracurricular work.

Specially organized commissions assign the teacher one of the four categories based on the results of the attestation: specialist, specialist of the second category, specialist of the first category, or specialist of the highest category. The attained category acknowledges the teacher's qualification level and influences his or her salary. One of the aspects taken into account during attestation is participation in advanced training programs and refresher courses. The system of advanced training and retraining includes over 20 institutes, as well as specialized departments of universities and other VUZs.

Teachers also participate in methodological seminars and conferences, organized by local educational departments, and attend professional development seminars and their colleagues' demonstration classes. Due to the nonpayment of salaries from the budget, which plagued the country in the 1990s, as well as other financial and social problems, thousands of teachers quit their jobs. Others had to go on strike in order to make the government fulfil its obligations to the teachers and schools. The quality of instruction at rural schools remains a serious problem. The government tries to solve it by allotting spots at teacher training institutes and universities for applicants from rural areas and giving them privileges at admission. However, the mechanisms have not been worked out adequately: after graduation many students in such programs fail to go back home to teach at a rural school and remain in the city. Therefore, the level of teaching in most of the rural schools is inadequate, and, because of numerous vacancies, some subjects are not taught at all. Many teachers from rural schools do not have a higher education. They are encouraged to complete their education through correspondence programs and use other educational opportunities to upgrade their qualification. Serous work aimed at the improvement of education in Ukraine is carried out by the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, which was created in 1992. Its activities in the 1990s resulted in the development of new curricula; publication of textbooks on humanitarian subjects, which were devoid of Communist ideological biases; creation of educational materials specifically intended for the Crimean Tartars and other groups of population; and research in different areas of pedagogy.