Inclusive education: twinning collaboration between Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University and the University of Wolverhampton

Words by: 

Prof. Zeta Williams Brown, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom: [email protected] 
Dr Yevhen Plotnikov, Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University, Ukraine: [email protected]

Developing our partnership

Our twinning partnership between Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University, Ukraine, and the University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, began in March 2022. From the beginning, we wanted to ensure this partnership transcended traditional advisory roles and created equal partnership built on mutual benefit and learning. Our achievements in the last two years are testament to the commitment from both universities in creating a robust academic relationship and ensuring sustainability in our twinning partnership.

Sharing knowledge and experiences

As part of our twinning partnership, we have had exciting opportunities afforded to us to guest speak and co-present at several events delivered by both universities. This includes Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State Universities 1st Scientific Practical conference in 2023 and the University of Wolverhampton’s School of Education research conference in 2024. 

In our most recent collaboration, Prof. Oleg Lisovets from Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University co-presented a symposium with colleagues from the University of Wolverhampton, Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) and UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta, Indonesia, at the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) conference on international development of inclusive education.

Collaborating in research and publications 

It became apparent early in our partnership that inclusive education was a key driver for both universities. Since the 2018 Education Reform, inclusive education has been a priority in Ukraine and continues to be during this time of crisis. At the University of Wolverhampton, one of the Centre for Research in Education and Social Transformation's (CREST's) main research focuses is inclusion. 

For our first collaborative project we selected a team of experts to write a bid on ‘Inclusive education in Ukraine: exploring crisis possibilities, co-developing practice and supporting teachers’.  We were awarded funding from Research England, supported by UUKi for this project. We have also collaborated on publications that include colleagues from Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University writing a chapter for Prof. Zeta Williams-Brown’s second edition of her edited book ‘Inclusive education: perspectives on pedagogy, policy and practice’.  

Our inclusive education project

In our first collaborative funded project, we wanted to focus on designing training to support developments in inclusive education. We wanted this training to be relevant to practice during the current war in Ukraine, as well as considering how inclusive education could be developed and exploring how we could learn from one another’s practice. We decided to create training programmes that could make a significant impact on practice in Ukraine and provide us with opportunities to reflect on practice in the United Kingdom. In order to do this, we spent time as a team reflecting on practice in both countries and we carried out data collection in 5 Ukrainian schools, which included observations, interviews with education professionals and focus groups with parents. 

We found many commonalities in our inclusive values and principles. These included celebrating difference, seeing the unique child, developing a strengths-based approach to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and promoting belonging and acceptance. There were also similarities in challenges to practically implementing inclusive education, which included differing attitudes as well as environmental, funding, training and resource barriers. Supporting whole child development and the importance of parent partnerships were also significant in our findings. It was important to us that we explored international developments in inclusive education in this project and the need to thoroughly consider country content, which include geographical, social, cultural and historical influences on inclusive education and its development.

Supporting pre-service teachers

One of the main outputs of the project was the creation of a module on inclusive education that included international and national content for use with pre-service teachers at Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University.

Free, accessible and inclusive education training

We also developed from the modules content a free distanced learning training package for pre-service teachers and teachers. A website was designed for this programme and its content has international relevance as well as focused content on practice in Ukraine. The website will be live in the next few months.

Learning from one another

We also created inclusivity champion training for education professionals (pre-service teachers, teachers, teaching assistants, students and academics) in Ukraine and the United Kingdom, which focused on practically developing inclusive education. Our first cohort included 10 Ukraine and 10 United Kingdom attendees at the University of Wolverhampton in 2023 and our second cohort in 2024 was delivered hybrid and included 25 attendees from Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Poland and India. The training provided space for us to share ideas, learn from one another and engage in exploring what is possible for inclusive education.

Continuing our partnership

We have a lot of exciting opportunities to work together in future collaborations, including more research on inclusive education and further publications. We are currently planning a free inclusivity champion online seminar series for this coming academic year. If you’re interested in this training, please contact us.

Project testimonies 

"The implementation of the joint Ukrainian-British project 'Inclusive education in Ukraine: exploring crisis possibilities, co-developing practice and supporting teachers' is a vivid example of successful cooperation between scientists and practitioners from the two countries, during which Nizhyn university and school teachers had a great opportunity to get acquainted with the deep theoretical understanding and extensive practical experience of partners from the University of Wolverhampton in the field of inclusion, share their own developments and best practices, and expand their professional skills. Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine is increasing the number of Ukrainians who, for various reasons, fall into the category of people with special needs, so the website of the distance learning platform for inclusive education will become an important platform for further exchange of knowledge and opinions, and will help Ukrainian teachers, social workers, and psychologists in working with vulnerable groups. We are sincerely grateful to our partners for their support and effective cooperation." - Oleksandr Samoilenko, Rector at Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University, Ukraine 

“This partnership has provided the opportunity to consider how we can address challenges working in collaboration recognising that obstacles and barriers may prevail at times, but they should not stop progress and development. There is a strength in the work that comes from a commitment to understanding how we can navigate inclusive opportunities for all and the need to embed this work as part of longer term sustained change.” - Prof. Diana Bannister, Director of the School of Education, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom

With thanks to our project team members:

Dr Hanna Bianca, Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University, Ukraine
Prof. Tony Bertram, Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) and University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
Prof. Alex Forsythe, Formally University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
Prof. Megan Lawton, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
Prof. Oleg Lisovets, Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University, Ukraine
Dr Ruslan Novgorodskyi, Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University, Ukraine
Prof. Chris Pascal, Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) and University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
Dr Tunde Rozsahegyi, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
Dr Komali Yenneti, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom