POVIR – Believe it, you can: How Ukrainian students are starting to bridge educational gaps brought about by the full-scale war
The initial results of the POVIR educational platform's work have shown that students are motivated to work diligently to overcome educational losses.
POVIR is an online platform where students meet with specially trained educators to address educational gaps. The name of the initiative itself is an acronym for the phrase "Overcoming Educational Losses and Gaps," and it’s positioned as a space where children receive help in coping with learning challenges.
The pilot phase of the platform started on May 10, 2024, and the results of its first month of operation were presented on June 25 at the educational National (un)conference EdCamp Point of Resiliency 2024.
One of the key insights presented in June is that the pedagogical model built on internal motivation to learn, which is central to POVIR’s approach, effectively engages students. The platform's management team plans to scale the project to the national level and is already sharing its developments with the education system. “Decentralized initiatives like POVIR connect teachers willing to help kids and students who have certain educational losses and are willing to 'catch up' with the educational program. I am confident that the changes we are implementing now will shape Ukraine's post-war future,” stated Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister for Innovations, Development of Education, Science, and Technology; Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, when assessing the platform.
In this new article, we discuss:
how POVIR differs from international equivalents/counterparts;
the idea of “Sprints” and “Marathons” on the platform and the reason why a child signs his/her first-ever contract;
how many children have already used the platform and who will be able to do so in the next waves;
the biggest challenge for scaling the reform.
[POVIR is a government-CSO project implemented by EdCamp Ukraine NGO in collaboration with partner institutions, including the Committee on Education, Science, and Innovation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Institute of Education Development, and Smart Osvita NGO. A key partner of the initiative is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which has accredited the platform.]
OUR POVIR AND INTERNATIONAL ALTERNATIVES: WHY THE WORLD OPTS FOR THIS PARTICULAR FORMAT
The world, just like Ukraine, first faced the massive issue of educational losses during the pandemic when educational institutions were suspended for an extended period, and the online format back then wasn’t not able to effectively replace in-person learning. Various countries created different solutions to address educational losses. Some of them proved successful, were scaled to national or international levels, and implemented in dozens of countries.
Having analyzed this experience, the OECD identified three most successful strategies:
adapting teaching methods and pedagogy to the individual needs of students;
adapting the learning time;
flexibility of educational programs and learning trajectories within the education system.
In the first strategy, OECD researchers highlighted the direction of technologies for personalized and more accessible learning. They recommended it for consideration in Ukraine as an effective strategy for restoring learning in the near future.
European countries have already used online technologies to enhance learning during the pandemic.
This includes, for example, Italy's “Tutoring Online Programme” (TOP) created in 2020 for primary school students who had difficulties learning Italian, English, and mathematics. This program, taught by volunteer students, was free for schools.
In 2021, a similar project appeared in Spain. It is an online platform called Menttores, developed by researchers and implemented by a non-governmental organization (which also provided professional development for teachers in schools with a high percentage of students facing adverse learning conditions). This project included mathematics classes and psychosocial support for primary school students.
Both projects proved to be successful, as the students involved showed higher subject test scores at the end of the school year, along with greater engagement and motivation to learn.
The Ukrainian POVIR platform stands out from these projects mainly because its pedagogical model is designed to foster long-term motivation and engagement in children. The first “hook” the platform uses to attract students is motivation here and now, that is, offering help with a specific task the child is struggling with, such as solving a challenging problem or completing homework.
Next, once the child has gained their first “quick wins” through Sprints, they are encouraged to advance to the Marathon format — a more in-depth and extended learning experience (10 sessions, 1 hour each) in the chosen subject. This approach is supported by a gamified reward system, where students receive special badges and achievements for their accomplishments on the platform.
As part of the learning process, students complete mandatory missions or challenges, earning an internal currency—vircoins. The collected amount can be traded for merchandise or donated to charity.
Currently, POVIR offers children lessons in three subjects:
Ukrainian,
Mathematics,
English.
Along with the lessons, students attend face-to-face meetings with SEL educators (social-emotional learning experts) to discuss their platform progress and learn practices that enhance their resilience."
"Every child’s experience of educational loss is unique. Some have parents fighting on the front lines, others have had their schools destroyed, and some simply don’t have regular lessons and teachers. That’s why on the platform, children meet not only with subject teachers but also with SEL educators. And this approach is proving to be effective," noted Serhiy Koleboshyn, Deputy Head of the Committee on Education, Science, and Innovation and co-founder of the POVIR platform.
Serhiy Koleboshyn during the platform's presentation. Photographer: Mykola Karpenko
A TOUCH OF STATISTICS AND UPDATES ON PREPARING FUTURE WAVES
The first wave of platform piloting started on May 10. At that time, 540 students from 7th and 9th grades were invited to participate. For this cohort, the platform's management team took a nomination approach, reaching out to nine governmental and non-governmental organizations that could nominate children based on 10 categories. These included children from internally displaced families, from de-occupied territories, children of Ukrainian defenders, and those who lost relatives due to the war (the full list of categories and nominating organizations can be found in the platform's presentation report). The average effectiveness rate of the nomination process was 47.6%, since some children did not respond to the invitation or did not finish the registration process on the platform.
The students who responded to the invitation come from nearly every part of Ukraine — children from 24 regions (except Crimea) are studying on POVIR, including those from occupied territories in Luhansk, as well as from 15 countries abroad, predominantly from Lithuania and Germany.
Among them, ninth-graders outnumber seventh-graders by 7%, and boys outnumber girls by 11%.
As part of the registration process, children complete a quiz that indicates their preferred ways of learning.
81% of the surveyed students find explanations helpful for understanding information,
71% enjoy solving complex tasks one-on-one with a teacher.
Upon joining the platform, students set the following goals for themselves:
63.5% want to see their progress and have a learning plan,
54% aim to learn how to express their thoughts in a structured, logical, and beautiful way,
while only 47% aim to improve their academic performance scores.
A child using the platform may opt for just short meetings—Sprints, or after two Sprints, they may apply for a Marathon. This is a serious decision, as it involves signing a contract (often the first in the child's life) with teachers and family involved. In the first month of the platform's operation, 25.3% of children took this opportunity, with 4.6% completing the Marathon, with none pausing or canceling their participation.
English was the top choice for Marathon applications, receiving 41.5%, with mathematics following at 38.5%, and Ukrainian language receiving 20% of the applications. When broken down by age, seventh-graders mostly choose mathematics, while ninth-graders prefer English. The students' involvement and motivation are further highlighted by the fact that during the first month, they earned 3,500 achievements from teachers and accumulated 30,875 vircoins in their virtual accounts on the platform. The platform also offers a two-way feedback system, where 95.7% of students rated their overall experience after meetings as 5 stars, and teachers are provided with methodological support. Detailed feedback from trainers, SEL educators, and students can be viewed in the video.
Currently, the management team of the platform is preparing for the upcoming waves of learning and exploring different ways to engage students on POVIR, since the nomination process doesn’t ensure that every nominated child joins the platform. This process has shown a double negative effect: when children are brought into educational activities by adults, some don’t start the learning, and others don’t finish it.
Therefore, it is important to engage directly with the children tapping on their intrinsic motivation, which is the strongest factor in achieving goals.
“I believe that open enrollment will work better. In the future, POVIR should enroll children with any level of academic achievement as long as they are motivated, since motivation is a better predictor of success than the level of educational losses,” says Serhiy Babak, Head of the Committee on Education, Science, and Innovation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
By the end of 2024, the platform's management team plans to bring in three more waves, totaling 2,000 students from 7th, 9th, and 11th grades (11th graders were not invited to the first wave in May due to their focus on preparing for and taking the NMT). New enrollments will be announced in the upcoming school year, and not only through nominations, but also through direct applications via the platform's website. Announcements for new enrollments will be published on the website main page.
TOWARDS SCALING UP
The data on how POVIR helps address educational gaps will be released after the pilot period ends — in early 2025. Right now, we have the results of check-ups and initial diagnostic tests that each child undergoes before starting the Marathon and signing the contract. These 42 tests were specifically developed for POVIR, but in the future, after piloting and validation, they will be available to anyone who is interested.
Back to the data from initial diagnostics
They indicate that the platform has attracted not only children with noticeable educational losses but also students with high academic achievements.
The results also show that the academic performance of 7th-grade students is higher than that of 9th-graders: the average success rate across three subjects was 75.1% for 7th graders, compared to 62.5% for 9th graders. As Oleksandr Elkin, Head of the Board of EdCamp Ukraine NGO, notes these figures should be approached with caution: “This could be a worrying sign that educational losses accumulate with each year of schooling. However, other reasons, such as the different difficulty levels of the material or the varying demographics of the students tested, could also be contributing factors.”
With all the pedagogical hypotheses described in the presentation report confirmed, the management team of the platform intends to finish the pilot phase by the end of this year and start the groundwork for scaling POVIR to include as many children as possible.
At the same time, the platform should in no way replace the school or family: “We refer to POVIR as the third place because the platform is intended to serve as an additional space for reinforcing students' confidence in their own abilities and potential.
For educators, it's a space for self-realization through supporting students, and an opportunity to officially earn compensation for the educational services they provide. By continuing their work in schools, teachers can alter approaches and integrate innovations and effective teaching methods into the school system that they've learned and applied through project activities on POVIR,” emphasizes Oleksandr Elkin.
Photo from the platform presentation. Photographer: Mykola Karpenko
When developing recommendations for Ukraine's educational policies, the OECD research team underscores that at the implementation stage of any strategy aimed at overcoming educational gaps,it’s essential not only to diagnose these gaps accurately but also to assess the resources—human, financial, physical, and digital — that will be required. According to Oleksandr Elkin, scaling the POVIR platform will depend on several factors:
readiness of the platform as a digital solution,
availability and readiness of teachers to engage with the platform,
and securing sustainable funding for its operation.
During the development and piloting stages of POVIR, no funds from state or local budgets were used, since the financial support was provided by donor organizations — the International Renaissance Foundation, the international organization “Education Cannot Wait,” and the USAID/ENGAGE (Enhance Non-Governmental Actors and Grassroots Engagement).
In the future, the platform's management team is going to explore various options for securing both governmental and non-governmental funding. For example, EdCamp Ukraine NGO plans to launch an international crowdfunding campaign on the GlobalGiving platform and is also collaborating with international technology companies such as HP and Lenovo, which have programs supporting education and students.
At the same time, Oleksandr Elkin considers the human resource to be the greatest challenge in scaling the platform, since increasing the number of children will require training more teachers. To attract and motivate educators, it is important not only to provide payment for services but also to offer appropriate professional development, methodological support, and feedback. Even the most motivated teachers may find it difficult to adjust, as interacting with children and the formats of work on POVIR differ from traditional school lessons.
& 