REFORM OF GENERAL SECONDARY EDUCATION “NEW UKRAINIAN SCHOOL”: STRATEGIC BENCHMARKS AND IMPLEMENTATION ACHIEVEMENTS

Abstract

The paper presents the author’s vision of the “New Ukrainian School” general secondary education reform. The author analyses the conceptual foundations, legislative framework and organisational procedures of the reform implementation set out in the key documents: the Conceptual Framework for Secondary Education School Reform “New Ukrainian School” (2016); the Concept for Implementation of the State Policy in the Area of General Secondary Education Reform “New Ukrainian School” for the period up to 2029 (2016) and the Action Plan for 2017–2029 for its implementation (2017); the Law of Ukraine ‘On Education’ (2017) and the Law of Ukraine ‘On Complete General Secondary Education’ (2020). The author emphasises the innovative nature of the reform and its European orientation in terms of introducing a 12-year school duration, transforming the content of education to a competency-based approach, strengthening school autonomy and intensifying educational partnerships, modernising teacher training and professional development, and the funding model. The author notes the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war negative impact on the pace of the reform implementation and formulates new challenges associated with it, primarily the learning losses of students. The conclusion is made that overcoming the cruel challenges of wartime, Ukraine’s education sector is working to implement the “New Ukrainian School” reform, which opens up many opportunities for anyone seeking quality knowledge and reshapes the educational process to focus on maximising the development of creative abilities of young Ukrainians.