Evaluation of a Play-based Mental Health Support Teacher Training in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has caused widespread destruction, disrupted basic services, and forced millions of children and families to flee their homes for safety. Children experienced separation from friends and caregivers, loss of social support, fear of attacks, and uncertainty about the future, which severely impacted their mental health and wellbeing. Ukrainian children need learning environments that are safe, supportive, and help with healing.

To address this need, the LEGO Foundation and the MHPSS Collaborative developed and conducted an online training on play-based mental health and psychosocial support for teacher training institutions in Ukraine between September 2022 and April 2023. The training focused on practical approaches and play-based strategies (like POWER games) that teachers could use to support their students’ wellbeing. This training was later provided to teachers across Ukraine to help them respond to the mental health needs of children affected by the conflict.

With support from the LEGO Foundation, the MHPSS Collaborative conducted an evaluation of the training program to understand how well it worked and its impact. The evaluation had five main goals:

1. To understand and improve how the Play-based Mental Health Support Teacher Training was implemented in Ukraine
2. To learn how play was used in classrooms to support mental health and create safe learning environments
3. To identify what helped and what prevented teachers from using play-based mental health support in their classrooms
4. To measure the impact of the training on teacher trainers, teachers, and students
5. To understand the government’s view of play-based mental health support training in schools and its potential impact on policy

The evaluation used different research methods, including surveys, feedback forms, and in-depth interviews with teacher trainers, teachers, and key people from Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science and LEGO Ukraine staff. Students’ experiences were understood through teacher reports to avoid putting additional stress on children already exposed to extreme risk.

The research was done in stages. First, interviews with teacher trainers and teachers provided insights that shaped a survey for teachers. Then, some survey participants were selected for follow-up interviews based on their responses. All teacher trainers and teachers who received the training were sent surveys before and after training, as well as feedback forms at the end. Finally, key people from LEGO Ukraine and the Ministry of Education were interviewed to fully assess the quality and implementation of the training program.