The new Ukrainian school reform: Achievements, developments and challenges

Abstract

AbstractThis article describes the New Ukrainian School reform and its conceptual framework. The reform builds on advanced pedagogical experience, best education practices, European competency frameworks and the promotion of national values. The system‐wide reform focuses on competency‐based content for teacher professional development, safe learning environments, inclusion and the digitalisation of education. Also, it addresses the internal and external quality assessment of education. The reform is financed through central government grants and the budgets of local governments. To test the newly developed content, the reform was piloted at 143 schools one year ahead of the nationwide roll‐out. The schools are a representative sample of schools in Ukraine. The pilot study involved monitoring student learning outcomes, teacher preparedness to implement the reform, and organisation of education environments. Methods used for the pilot study included a survey, test, pedagogical observations, and secondary analysis of statistics. The national implementation of the reform started in 2017 and is planned to be completed by 2030. Russia's full‐scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has contributed to obstacles and risks such as learning losses, lacking school safety, absence of funding for the development of schools and for printing textbooks. We describe measures undertaken in Ukraine to promote the reform and good results. A range of challenges remain, such as rebuilding destroyed schools, optimising the school network in line with demographic changes and organising shelters at schools. Additional challenges include the promotion of digital technologies at schools, closing learning gaps and the provision of psychological support at school.