Functioning of Stem Education in Pedagogical Institutions of Higher Education of Ukraine in Wartime Conditions: Problems and Prospects for Development

The article examines contemporary challenges in the functioning of STEM education within the system of higher pedagogical education in Ukraine under wartime conditions. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to ensure the continuity and quality of professional preparation of prospective teachers of natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, and technology amid the destruction and relocation of educational infrastructure, academic staff losses, unequal access to laboratory and digital resources, accelerated digital transformation, and the need to prepare the Ukrainian education system for post-war recovery. The aim of the article is to comprehensively identify and systematize the key challenges affecting the development of STEM education in Ukrainian pedagogical higher education institutions under wartime conditions, determine the interrelationships among these challenges, and substantiate a conceptual model of STEM teacher education. To achieve this aim, the study employed a systematic analysis of scholarly publications and regulatory and policy documents, comparative-pedagogical, structural-functional, and problem-oriented analysis, as well as methods of systematization, generalization, classification, and modelling. The methodological framework of the study is based on conceptualizing STEM education as an integrated and multidimensional system whose effective functioning depends on the interaction of institutional, human-resource, infrastructural and resource, digital, psychological-pedagogical, and methodological factors. The main results demonstrate the existence of six interrelated groups of challenges affecting STEM education in Ukrainian pedagogical higher education institutions: organizational and institutional, infrastructural and resource, human-resource, digital and technological, psychological and pedagogical, and methodological challenges. The findings indicate that wartime conditions not only exacerbate existing challenges in STEM teacher education but also generate new requirements for the organization of the educational process, particularly regarding flexibility, the provision of distance and blended learning, digital security, the psychological resilience of educational participants, the development of international partnerships, and the continuity of professional preparation. On this basis, a conceptual model for the functioning of STEM education was substantiated, integrating regulatory and legal, organizational, human-resource, infrastructural and resource, digital, psychological-pedagogical, and monitoring and evaluation components. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the systematic structuring of the challenges facing STEM education in Ukrainian pedagogical higher education institutions under wartime conditions, the identification of their interrelationships, and the conceptualization of STEM teacher education as an adaptive, resilient, and digitally oriented system. The novelty also consists in substantiating a model of its functioning that integrates enabling, process-oriented, and outcome-oriented components. The practical significance of the study lies in the potential application of its findings to the modernization of educational and professional programs for prospective STEM teachers, the development of institutional STEM education strategies in pedagogical universities, the planning and renewal of digital and laboratory infrastructure, the professional development of academic and teaching staff, the expansion of international partnerships, and the implementation of innovative educational technologies. The study concludes that the effective functioning of STEM education in Ukrainian pedagogical higher education institutions under wartime conditions requires a transition from fragmented responses to individual challenges towards a systemic and adaptive model focused on educational resilience, digital transformation, human-resource development, institutional and resource capacity, and the quality of professional preparation of prospective teachers. Such an approach provides a conceptual foundation for the modernization and sustainable development of pedagogical STEM education during both the wartime and post-war periods.