Ukraine’s education system is currently operating under extraordinary pressure. Schools must continue delivering education despite the challenges of the full-scale war, while ongoing education reforms place additional demands on teachers, students, school leaders, and parents.

Looking ahead, the system will also need to support the reintegration of children whose education has been profoundly disrupted. This includes those who have been displaced and forced to attend school away from their home communities, as well as students whose learning has been affected by teacher shortages, prolonged periods of online instruction, and other wartime challenges. It also includes children who have lived and studied in temporarily occupied territories, as well as those who have been abducted by Russia. Ensuring that all of these children can successfully reintegrate into the Ukrainian education system will be a critical future task. 

In these circumstances, promoting gender-sensitive and inclusive education may appear less urgent than addressing immediate challenges. However, meaningful and sustainable educational reform requires a comprehensive approach in which gender equality and social inclusion remain integral priorities. This is particularly important not only in the light of Ukraine’s ongoing education reforms, but also its broader European integration process, where alignment with EU values and standards places increasing emphasis on equality, inclusion, and non-discrimination. Teachers play a central role in translating these principles into everyday classroom practice, yet there is still limited knowledge of how gender-sensitive and inclusive teaching is implemented and experienced in Ukrainian schools. Drawing on the GENEQ-UKRAINE project (2025–2026), this policy brief explores methodological approaches to studying these issues, highlighting considerations that may have broader relevance for future research and policy development.

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