Period of implementation of the project: 

December 2020 – September 2021

Challenge: 

Metinvest systematically implements social partnership programmes in the cities where it operates including those aimed at development of education. Since its establishment, the company has invested over UAH 180 million in educational projects and implementation of innovative solutions in education.

Today’s students in Ukraine are losing interest in science, and their academic performance is deteriorating significantly. Around 30% of school graduates in Mariupol, Zaporizhia and Kryvyi Rih choose the hard sciences – such as mathematics, physics or chemistry – for their external independent testing at school (known as the EIT). After school graduation, most young people prefer soft sciences: foreign languages, geography or Ukrainian history. Only 6-8% of them get the test scores that allow them to compete for admission to higher educational institutions to study a technical specialisation.

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Ukrainian students lag behind their peers from developed OECD countries by almost a year of study, and their results are on average 100 points lower if compared with Singapore or China. Moreover, Ukrainian students have most of their knowledge gaps in mathematics. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools moved online, teaching hard sciences became even more difficult, which exposed a critical need for modern approaches to learning. The industrial region of Ukraine, particularly, the cities of Mariupol, Zaporizhia and Kryvyi Rih, are in need of technical specialists and experts, including steel making professionals, while Metinvest’s assets need talented young people.

Solution: 

STEAM CAMP is a leadership training programme for teachers of hard sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computer science in three industrial cities of Ukraine, where Metinvest’s key assets are located: Mariupol, Kryvyi Rih, and Zaporizhia. The main purpose of the project is to improve the quality of STEAM education in schools, get children interested in learning sciences and equip teachers with skills and innovative methods of teaching that would help them to enhance the knowledge of the graduates who choose STEAM disciplines for their EIT. 

The project will help to create a community of proactive teachers focused on minimising the outflow of young skilled people from the industrial regions of Ukraine.  

Project participants from the three cities – Mariupol, Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhia – included over 500 highly motivated teachers of STEAM disciplines from public and vocational schools who successfully completed the two-step competition involving writing an essay and having a proctored test.  

In February-June 2021, five three-day theme modules were conducted for physics, chemistry, mathematics and computer science teachers focused on soft skills development: leadership in education; modern teaching methods; digital tools at school; effective communication; new way of thinking, and working with information. 

The training process involved about 50 best speakers and mentors of national level, including professors and PhD from country’s state universities and experts with hands-on experience in education who shared their best practices and taught the new tools and skills that the school of the future will need. 

The participants were offered inter-module mentoring and support throughout program implementation. 

During the project, the teachers worked in groups preparing lessons and integrating elements of professional orientation into the learning process, covering various topics (STEAM in my city, STEAM professions, STEAM in space, STEAM in tourism and so on).  

The STEAM CAMP programme also includes motivational components for participants: the teachers will receive a bonus for each school graduate who succeeds in the EIT on mathematics, physics or chemistry and chooses to study a STEAM profession in their own city. 

As a part of the project, in cooperation with ‘STEM is FEM’, an educational initiative supported by UN Women and UNICEF “She is Science” exhibitions were opened in the three cities to promote science among young people and specifically girls. 

Metinvest funded the programme and participated in its implementation from the beginning to end. Being interested in preparing highly skilled talents for the Metinvest assets, the company’s specialists:  

– participated in the landscape analysis for project design and concept creation; 

– monitored the programme implementation;

– coordinated introduction of professional orientation elements in the course;

– organised the visits of programme participants to Metinvest’s assets;

– were members of jury for evaluation of teachers’ presentations;

– Management of Metinvest’s assets  participated in the STEAM CAMP opening and closing ceremonies in order to explain why the project is so important for the steel company.

Results: 

STEAM CAMP is a unique project in Ukraine because of its scale and unprecedented impact on the educational sphere.

As a result of the project, 500 STEAM teachers participating in the programme tried and implemented over 30 new digital tools in the learning process, developed over 450 lessons integrating professional orientation elements that laid down the foundation of a great partnership platform for STEAM teachers to share their experience and develop leadership skills. As the new school year begins, over 5,000 students in over 200 schools in Mariupol, Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhia will benefit from new tools and proprietary methods in their learning process. 

The project will help to increase students’ interest in sciences and expand the number of young people who are going to dedicate their lives to the hard sciences. It will also contribute to the development of the region and the entire country. The STEAM CAMP project aims to improve the quality of teaching hard sciences and it, therefore, covers one of the most important social aspects of life – quality education, which will help be competitive in the labour market in the future. 

Driving a programme like this is very important for the sustainable development of the cities where Metinvest’s assets operate. For Metinvest as a metals and mining company, this project is expected to help secure highly skilled talents and technical specialists in the future. At the same time, STEAM CAMP is a project of large partnership with local communities and a number of national and international stakeholders that helps improve relationships with the above.  

Category: People

Company:

Metinvest

About the company:

Metinvest is an international, vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. It has assets in Ukraine, the EU, the UK and the US, as well as a sales network covering the major regions of the world. The Group controls the entire production chain, from mining iron ore and coking coal to making and selling semi-finished and finished steel products.

Sustainable Development Goals