Written by James Kendall, CPD Operations Officer, COBIS

The COBIS Programme for Early Career Teachers (CPECT) has been designed to support both newly qualified teachers and more experienced teachers who haven’t trained in the UK but want to develop their teaching practice in-line with the UK teachers’ standards. Here we explore the impact this course has had on a locally hired teacher in an incredibly difficult and unique context.

Karyna is a Year 5 teacher at The British International School of Ukraine, having started working there in 2020. Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, her class is taught partly online and partly in person. Her role as a teacher stretches beyond what many teachers would expect for the role as she provides her class with secure social and emotional support in a country at war.

Karyna entered teaching after working as a teaching assistant at her school, following her degree in psychology and a qualification in interpreting. She saw the possibility of the CPECT course in realising her dream of becoming a teacher, “It was amazing opportunity as it is linked to the teachers’ standards. The course has given me lots of things I can do as a teacher; the articles and reading are really good”.

Given the challenging context of teaching in a country at war, Karyna credits the CPECT course with providing her with vital strategies for classroom management, lesson planning, and adapting to the unique challenges she faces such as air-raid sirens and loss of electricity in the middle of lessons.

Reflecting on her experience on the course Karyna shared, “It has really helped my confidence with lesson planning and classroom organisation. At the start it can be challenging to balance with teaching but there a lot of different resources available to you like podcasts, videos and articles. Accessing these when I wanted made it easier for me as we haven’t had a steady power supply.

“Working in the Ukraine is really hard and the pupil's behaviour has changed since the war, but I have learned strategies and ways to interact with them to help like changing seating plans”. As well as her progress in the classroom, Karyna’s progress on the CPECT course has also been recognised by her SLT. She has recently led an initiative focused on pupil mental health which recognises her ability to support pupil wellbeing and foster a positive school environment.

Karyna has maintained a comprehensive portfolio of her work from the two-year course, including CPD session materials. She, like many participants on the course, is intending to use the portfolio for formal ECT induction recognition when possible.

After successfully completing the course, Karyna aspires to mentor and support other teachers by sharing best practice, aiming to become a model teacher and educator. She hopes to use the success of the CPECT course to eventually work in other British international schools in Europe.

Karyna’s progress as a teacher and commitment to her pupils is inspirational and testament to all teachers currently in Ukraine.

Go back to the Connect News Hub