We are living in the age of constant whirlpools and diverse challenges, but in spite of this, Nadiia Dubchenko manages to find time for herself, bringing up her son and resting with her family. She considers herself quite self-critical and stress-resistant, her daily schedule is partially undefined, and everything is planned in advance. Tvoemisto.tv found out how Nadiia Dubchenko managed to create a number of educational institutions in Lviv.
About a meeting that became the turning point
Nadiia Dubchenko’s morning, traditionally for a mother, begins with preparing her son for a new school day. He is one of the pupils in the school ThinkGlobal Lviv, and she believes this fact helps her see if everything goes well in her business. Once, it was a meeting with the founder of private schools’ network and online school ThinkGlobal Bohdan Oleksandruk which inspired Nadiia to establish her own educational project.
«I liked that in the beginning, they provided support regarding all educational aspects: they had an interesting academic team that developed non-standard training courses, unavailable in any school at that time. The programs were fairly modern and innovative, they were reviewed every year since science and technology are constantly evolving and new tools emerge. With this support, my husband and I also decided to open a school of this network in our city», – Nadiia says.
Something that the couple wished for their son’s education and development is what they created themselves. And it’s already the fourth year that the couple has been developing a network of private educational institutions in Lviv: ThinkGlobal Lviv schools and GlobalKids kindergartens. Three locations appeared during this time, including a school on Zelena street, a school and kindergarten on Dahestanska street, near the airport, and in September, a kindergarten and elementary school will be opened on Maloholosiivska street. By the way, according to parents, the format of having kindergarten and school nearby pleased them. This way, both children and parents often get acquainted in advance with the team, director, teachers, values of the institution and so on. In addition, the school has more than 20 clubs, so you don’t need to take children, for instance, to the other end of the city, as it often happens.
About her own education and hobbies
Nadiia Dubchenko says that her own school education lacked practice and opportunities for comprehensive development. In contrast, ThinkGlobal Lviv decided to offer their pupils lots of project activities, internships in companies to make children see how everything functions practically, not just in theory.
«I needed more practice and a broader worldview. Even during my school studies, I wanted to try many diverse activities to understand how different industries work and to know what my soul is close to. Now, I believe that students in the 11th grade will choose the job they really want to do, not just because their parents want it or because it’s fashionable», – she points out.
Previously, Nadiia Dubchenko used to be a musician. She graduated from the Music Academy in Kyiv and performed at the Lviv Opera House. In total, she was professionally engaged in music for ten years, including the three years of teaching at the Music College of Stanislav Liudkevych. Nowadays, music is a hobby, because there is no time for concerts.
«In the government institutions, there was little room for creativity. Some boundaries always existed, but I wanted more, and the private sector has helped with it. Of course, there’s also a list of rules and regulations that should be followed here, but you can always add some training courses, change the schedule, etc.», – she adds.
Education management is what Nadiia Dubchenko and her colleagues are still studying, in particular, adopting the experience of foreign colleagues. Before the quarantine, they were in Finland, before that – in Norway. Singapore, she adds, is yet a dream – this educational system is currently number one in the world. Quarantine made things more complicated, but there are online programs that help. The woman also graduated from the School of Education Managers of the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School (Kmbs).
«That knowledge gave me a colossal impetus. You can look at the school from the perspective of business, understand who our clients are, who we work for, what is relevant and interesting today, how to create a truly innovative space, not just to make a good repair and call it an innovative school», – she says.
Training was also provided by the ThinkGlobal network, where they studied various teaching methods, including nonviolent communication, classroom management, and learned to develop training courses and lessons themselves.
«Children today are not interested in mere frontal instruction, when a teacher passes them, distributes tasks and they solve it, they need a» wow» effect and lots of interactivity», – Nadiia Dubchenko explains.
About the time management and delegation
The network of ThinkGlobal Lviv schools and GlobalKids kindergartens in Lviv is now actively developing. According to the head of these institutions, new important moments always emerge, so you need to be in touch almost 24/7. Except for this, she tries to be present equally in all three institutions.
Nadiia plans her day in advance, determines the tasks of a priority she has in the beginning and then – the operating moments.
«My team is excellent – headmasters, principals, school administrators, whom I trust and delegate a lot of work to. Of course, I did everything myself at the initial stage, but now I can’t do it without the team», – she says.
About the way to understand that the business is successful
Nadiia Dubchenko checks whether the business is successful in several ways. In particular, it can be evidenced by the implemented projects, the results of children and feedback from the parents.
«In addition, three locations in the city also show that parents trust us and recommend us to others», – she says.
The key to success, according to her, is that she and her husband work together. She says they can easily delegate responsibilities to each other to keep up, and both are «burning» with their family business. At the same time, the co-owner of private schools calls herself stress-resistant and self-critical. She says she developed it due to performing on stage. Also, among the traits that help to achieve success, she highlights sociability and the ability to charge the team for the result.
«Having the experience of public speaking, I can be scared by few things. I also feel when you need to press a little more and when you can give the descent. That’s why we work in harmony and don’t have a flow of staff», – she said.
About the sources of inspiration
Today, music is a tool for meditation for Nadiia Dubchenko. The woman says that when feeling bad, she always goes either to the Philharmonic or the opera. Yes, in two or three hours, she recovers completely.
«When I see a great result of the team, it energises me, I get pleasure. Trips also add to it, even not far from Lviv. When I change the environment for two or three days, the strength comes», – she narrates.
Due to the fact that in the process of work, it’s necessary to communicate with people a lot, Nadiia Dubchenko likes to spend some time alone. She has recently started jogging, so in the morning, she has the opportunity to deal with her thoughts.
«Time for myself is needed for me like water: to be alone a little, to drink coffee, to relax. This way, you can reboot all internal processes, charge yourself to work and at the same time, stay in harmony with yourself despite a lot of cases and huge load», – Nadiia says.
About time and relationships with her family
Now the son of Nadiia and Mikhailo Dubchenko is 11 years old. Parents build their relationships with him on a partnership basis and teach him to be responsible for his actions.
«We trust him and teach him from an early age to be responsible for his actions. Such a scheme of control of behaviour is implemented in our school: as children come to the institution, they receive three green cards, if they violated the rules of the school or class – they are given a yellow or red one. This teaches them to analyse their actions and be responsible for them. We want our son to make the decision himself, let him try many different things. He is now engaged in horseback riding, does aikido and swimming, and has a third-degree in chess», – she narrates.
Over the weekend, Nadiia Dubchenko tries to turn off her phone to have time just for her family.
«We may have less free time together, but it has a higher quality. On weekends, we sometimes go somewhere together. Despite the fact that unexpected situations happen, it’s impossible to live by work only. That’s why I always leave time for family, sports and meetings beyond work», – she adds.
Olha Koval
Translated by Vitalii Holich
Photo by Nadiia Marchenko
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