1The experience of Ukraine in teaching and learning during the Russian-Ukrainian war at universities is extraordinary. Various aspects of Ukrainian education are reflected in the articles of this issue. I thank my French colleagues for the opportunity to share Ukrainian scientific developments in this issue. Despite the experience of online education, the war education has its own peculiarities. However, educators are moving forward and thinking about future education, pedagogical education in Ukraine and the strategy of its development. I want to express my thoughts about it.

2The vision of pedagogical education in Ukraine was discussed in 2023 on the day of the Ukrainian people unity at the International Forum of Educators “Pedagogical Elite in Ukraine: Value Orientations”. At the plenary session, an address to the forum participants from the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi was read. During the forum work, I and my colleagues discussed the following issues: improving the professional skills of the pedagogical elite, developing strategic directions of postgraduate pedagogical education, developing a safe educational environment in new realities, ensuring the continuity of the educational process in educational institutions in the de-occupied territories, having the activities of regional educational hubs.

3During the forum work, I presented the newly created Educational Hub of our university (H.S. Skovoroda KhNPU), where schoolchildren, learners, students, teachers, parents and all those who wish can free of charge get psychological support, the opportunity to prepare for different school and university tests for free, study or improve the level of command of Ukrainian and English languages, participate in various projects, trainings, master classes, workshops, etc. We overcome the problems of education during the war, move forward, support our educators. In general, the information about the Educational Hub work caused only positive feedback from the educational community. During the panel discussion event I expressed my vision on many topical issues, namely: “Pedagogical education throughout life”; “STEM education, High-Tech technology park, SMART university”; “Education for me is a school for everyone”.

4Such a vision of teaching and learning during the war allows to work out an education strategy after the war, for example, during the work of the “Strategic Session” from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to develop a pedagogical education in 2023. Within the panel discussions of that event, it was possible to understand the tasks set before the participants even more deeply and thoroughly and to approach the main goals of the strategic session – to find new solutions, to offer innovative ideas that will become a guarantee for improving the quality of training the pedagogical elite in Ukraine.

5Based on the results of a lively discussion at “Strategic Session”, we managed to outline the requirements for a modern teacher as guidelines that should be followed by all subjects of educational activity. It is clear that teachers in Ukraine must not only have deep knowledge of pedagogy, psychology, their subject area, but also be competent in using modern technologies and teaching methods. My colleagues and I highlighted basically love and empathy for children, parents, colleagues, technological awareness, communication skills as openness to dialogue, the ability to listen and understand the situation of each learner, organizational skills and leadership qualities. All of them are important during the war, and will be important after it is over.

6As the highpoint of the discussions and the entire “Strategic session”, I determined what a pedagogical university in Ukraine should be. At a minimum, it should meet the requirements of modern education and ensure quality training of future teachers. The “Strategic session” organized by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, in my opinion, made a significant contribution to the development of pedagogical education in Ukraine, because it had not only a theoretical basis, but also practical results that would be implemented, creating effective tools for carrying out high-quality educational activities, obtaining knowledge of the highest level, developing national dignity, respect for one’s lineage, people, and country for the young Ukrainian generation.

Avant propos de Ilona Kostikova, Editor-in-Chief of “Educational Challenges” journal, DSc (Education), PhD in Education, Full Professor

7Our collaboration with “Tréma” journal and Professor Sylvain Wagnon about an issue exclusively for several Ukrainian articles related to education is unique and successful. It is the continuation of the partnership in terms of a teamwork with French colleagues from different journals and organizations. I’d like to share the experience of solidarity Ukrainian “Education Challenges” journal and French colleagues.

8French colleagues from the French journal “Education et socialisation”, les Cahiers du CERFE (Edso), by the initiative of the Prof. Etienne Richard in terms of SUES project have decided to support with the translation and publication of articles from the Ukrainian journal “Educational Challenges” in each of its issues, that is to say four articles per year. These articles are chosen by mutual agreement with “Educational Challenges” journal and the author(s) of the article text that is originally published in English. The translation is done free of charge and voluntary by persons belonging to the French editorial board of Edso. The example of this cooperation is the article published in April 2023 “Développement des compétences générales dans la formation initiale des professeurs des écoles” in “Education et socialisation” by Nataliia Hrona, Olena Vyshnyk and Iryna Pinchuk, https://doi.org/​10.4000/​edso.22855, translated from English into French by Chantal Étienne and Richard Étienne. It is an interesting collaboration.

9“Educational Challenges” journal thanks to SUES project published 2 articles from the French journal “Revue internationale d'éducation de Sèvres”, by the initiative of Marie-José Sanselme, Rédactrice en chef adjointe. These 2 articles were chosen by “Educational Challenges” journal because they are interesting for Ukrainian readers and they have the original submission to the French journal in English despite their publication in French. “Educational Challenges” was happy to publish them in April 2023 https://doi.org/​10.34142/​2709-7986.2023.28.1.02, https://doi.org/​10.34142/​2709-7986.2023.28.1.03. I think it is a great opportunity for collaboration and the article exchange will be continued.

10The collaboration with French editors thanks to SUES continued in 2023 at 3rd AEUP Conference “Publishing in Nervous Times”, 16-17 May 2023, Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia. It was a good initiative of Rémy Ienco from SUES and Astrid Thorn Hillig, Directrice adjointe des Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme, Éditrice et Chargée des relations internationals, who refunds travelling costs and the accommodation for me. It was a great pleasure to participate and present “Educational Challenges” journal. I presented how the Ukrainian journal “Educational Challenges” and its team have survived, lived and worked during the Russian-Ukrainian war in Kharkiv, that borders 30 kilometers from Russia. The French editor, Wanda Romanowski, Responsable du service des éditions, Institut national d'études démographiques (INED), gifted to the Ukrainian library the English issue of the French journal “Population”. The problems of scientific integrity in institutional publishing, how to reach technical maturity, artificial intelligence and ethics in publishing were discussed at the conference with French colleagues.

11The last collaboration with French editors is publishing 3 Ukrainian articles in “Revue internationale d’éducation de Sèvres” in the form of a special dossier titled “The state of education in Ukraine in wartime”, in the “International News” section to show the testimonies of Ukrainian teachers on how the mission of education is fulfilled in times of war. There is an article about teaching social and civic skills in wartime, an article about the war’s impact on the work of teachers and students from H.S. Skovoroda National Pedagogical University, and an article about safe educational environment for pupils in the Dergachy community from Kharkiv region after de-occupation. The texts will appear in issue 93, that will be published on 18 October in both paper and digital versions in “Revue internationale d’éducation de Sèvres”. So, our collaboration with French colleagues is going on!