Measurement of Safety Levels in Educational Institutions

May 19, 2025, 6:12 p.m.

The Child Dignity Center at UCU has developed a tool for communities and educators to help determine the level of safety in educational institutions.

Doing something for the first time is always a great responsibility. Even greater is the responsibility when every school, lyceum, or gymnasium can use it. We have created the first-ever “School Safety Measurement” tool in Ukraine. It will assist communities, school administrations, and educators to identify:

  • whether children experience psychological, physical, or sexual violence;
  • whether bullying exists in the school (including hidden bullying);
  • whether the institution considers the needs of the child.

Thanks to this screening, it is possible to:

  • create a safe environment;
  • better understand children’s safety needs;
  • identify threats and work on their prevention.

The tool consists of three sections:

  1. Absence of Threats – whether violence occurs in the institution, what kind, and whether it is isolated or ongoing;
  2. Response to Threats – whether the administration, teachers, parents, and children know how to act when a threat arises;
  3. Safe Space – the atmosphere of respect and trust within the institution, support, safety rules, and clear protocols on how to act in case of threats.

You can take the screening here: https://cdc.ucu.edu.ua/uk/safety-schools/

Everyone who completes the questionnaire will receive results and recommendations for each section, including online courses, manuals, posters, and articles that will help strengthen the existing level of safety in kindergartens, schools, lyceums, and gymnasiums in every community.

The screening is based on the research “School Safe for the Child” (2024): https://cdc.ucu.edu.ua/uk/resources/doslidzhennya-shkola-bezpechna-dlya-ditini/

This research was conducted by the Child Dignity Center at UCU together with the FAMA agency, supported by the Education Department of the Lviv City Council. The study involved 2,000 students, 800 parents and teachers from 34 schools in Lviv. Children, alongside adults, were able to express their own views on what safety means to them and when they feel safe.

Let us all work together to ensure the safety of our children.