Results of reforms-2024 from the Ministry of Education and Science: education that made everyone doubt its future 

So the end of 2024 is coming to an end, which will be remembered not only for war, challenges and heroism, but also for the innovative ideas of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, which made society either raise its eyebrows in surprise or passionately discuss. Another year of reforms from the Ministry of Education and Culture left behind more questions than answers, and became a field for many sarcastic memes, angry posts on social networks and lengthy discussions at pedagogical meetings.

This, at first glance, active activity of the Ministry of Education and Culture is similar to playing in a dark room, where you bump into the wall, then the furniture, and sometimes you accidentally turn on the kettle instead of the light. Ukrainian education is already used to this “experimental” approach: on the one hand, it seems that something is changing, and on the other hand, the question arises whether these changes are necessary at all. If you look at the results of the year, you can see a lot of changes. For example, an attempt to digitize education, new educational programs that sometimes appear and disappear, and the eternal struggle for the quality of knowledge. However, the success of these efforts often remains somewhere in the zone of “intentions”. One gets the impression that the main goal of the reformers is simply to change something so that it can be seen that they are working. And does it benefit the participants of the educational process? This is a rhetorical question.

Task from the Ministry of Education and Culture: “I see the goal – I don’t see the obstacles”

One of the main features of educational reforms in Ukraine is constant “shifts”. They changed the school curriculum, they changed the assessment standards, they even changed the concept of education as such. Sometimes these shifts are really necessary, but more often they are like trying to move furniture in a dark room: you seem to be moving forward, but each new chair on the way adds to the pain.

Let’s start, as they say, from the very beginning. On June 6, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a new Law of Ukraine “On preschool education”, which will enter into force on July 7, 2025. According to the new law, the state aims to ensure equal and barrier-free access to preschool education for all children. The law emphasizes that every child has the right to a quality education, starting from an early age. Therefore, the appearance of alternative types of preschool institutions, such as mobile kindergartens, family kindergartens, pedagogical partnership centers, etc., was perhaps the most important innovation.

In the EU countries, considerable attention is paid to preschool education, because it is precisely the link of education that has a significant impact on the country’s economy. That is why, according to EU requirements, all EU countries must achieve 96% coverage of preschool education for children aged three to six. While in Ukraine, as of 2024, the total percentage of children covered by various forms of preschool education is only 73.1%. Therefore, such a reform is very appropriate for our society, because increasing the network of kindergartens, where children will acquire the skills and abilities necessary for the modern world, as well as being in a safe environment, will allow their parents to calmly return to their workplaces and contribute to the development of the country’s economy. The initiative is very useful, but the upcoming reform should include not only various forms of kindergartens, but also the integration of new technologies into preschool education.

The lack of places in kindergartens is not only an inconvenience, but a real social problem. After all, many parents cannot go to work because there is no one to take care of the child. This affects their financial situation, career, and most importantly, the well-being of the children themselves, who lose the opportunity for socialization and early development. But the most painful thing in this situation is that this deficit puts pressure on the most vulnerable – families who cannot afford to pay for a private kindergarten or hire a babysitter. They have to choose between working and raising a child at home, which can lead to feelings of isolation and stress.

However, general secondary education has undergone the most changes. Its radical reformation began with the National University of Ukraine and continues to this day. According to MES specialists, significant investments are made in personal development and modern educational opportunities within the framework of NUS. Possibilities and, indeed, many, and how to use them effectively in the educational process still remains a dilemma. The reform itself involves changes to the typical educational program for grades 5-9, flexibility for schools and more opportunities to overcome educational losses.

The fact that 40% of teachers during the survey “New Ukrainian school in grades 5-6: challenges of implementation” was discussed for a long time in society was unable to explain the difference between NUSH and the previous approach to the educational process. But is it the fault of the teachers that only more new terms are added to the state standards every time, and the content itself has not changed for years. The problem is that we are huddled in one place, and the visa is still there.

The content of the educational process seems to be based on the formation of competencies necessary for successful self-realization in society, and the main participants of the educational process are students and teachers, but, in fact, it turns out that these are loud words on paper. In reality, we have overloaded school programs, students tired of an excessive amount of information, who do not even know how to perceive this information, and burdened with overwhelming responsibilities, teachers who rely solely on their own enthusiasm and love for their profession. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, in turn, seems to test the flexibility of all participants in the educational process, throwing dubious reforms such as the Lessons of Happiness, the merging of the History of Ukraine and World History, military drills in the lessons of the updated subject Defense of Ukraine.

Details about the innovation

I would like to dwell on each innovation separately. Ukrainian “Lessons of happiness” – this equivalent American course on social-emotional learning Well-Being. Experts of the Ministry of Education and Culture, led by the Minister of Education Oksen Lisov, are sure that this course will provide schoolchildren need skills in order to “unleash the full potential of what it means to be fully human”. At first glance, “Happiness Lessons” seems like such a positive initiative. However, isn’t this an attempt by the state to hide the serious problems that have befallen our society? It is unlikely that forced happiness will help our children to cope with the difficult trials that have befallen them. Perhaps efforts should be directed towards achieving peace and confidence in the future, in order to return our children to a happy childhood, rather than artificially creating it by overloading the school curriculum with an extra lesson.

Taking on the task of reforming historical education at school, officials from the Ministry of Education and Culture came up with nothing better than to combine world history and the history of Ukraine into a single general education course. But we all understand very well that history is a multifaceted science and it is important that no key moment is overlooked. And this requires a careful selection of materials and the involvement of experts from various fields in order to create a balanced course, where topics important for building a realistic picture of the history of Ukraine would not be replaced or undermined.

Lisovyi then urged to learn to perceive Ukraine as one of the hundreds of countries in the world. But the experience of the past inexorably indicates that such an attitude will only lead to a repetition of the events when we were told about the “friendship of peoples”, while at the same time suppressing our identity and relegating us to the backyard of history. Ukrainians, like many other peoples, have their own history, filled with a large number of events and achievements, our leaders left a noticeable mark in this history and it is important to do everything possible so that the descendants learn about it. And this process should not take place somewhere in the background of others, but in a full-fledged course with due attention paid to all important historical milestones.

By introducing the “Defense of Ukraine” course into the curriculum, the Ministry of Education and Culture took a significant step towards the development of a conscious society that will be ready to defend its state, defend national values ​​and the dignity of the people. But once again, being fascinated by the experience of developed countries, the officials forgot that all this requires considerable funds, and our country is now trying to withstand the harsh blows of the enemy and preserve its economy. In addition, Ukraine cannot yet take advantage of the experience of foreign countries in conducting exercises in field conditions due to the overly complicated security situation in the country.

In 2027, the senior school reform will begin, one of the main innovations of which will be the creation of academic and professional lyceums, among which 9th grade graduates will choose. Education in academic lyceums will last three years and will represent preparation for admission to a higher educational institution. And professional lyceums will immediately provide full general secondary education and the opportunity to acquire a profession. Such differentiation will make it possible to satisfy the country’s need for in-demand professions, and not to observe the picture of mass enrollment in higher education institutions and replenishment of the labor market with professions that are not in demand in the current conditions.

However, there is a negative side to the creation of academic and professional lyceums.  A separate building should be allocated for such institutions. But if, say, the community does not have a large number of children, then after the end of the 9th grade, quite a few students will go to the 10th grade, and therefore, it will simply not be profitable to allocate a separate building for them. In this case, schoolchildren will either have to go to the cities where the main lyceums will be concentrated, or live in specially created dormitories.

The preference for the vocational lyceum is caused by the state’s desire to raise the rating of vocational education. After all, it is not a secret for anyone that such a stereotype has developed in society that those students who did not study well at school go to vocational schools and technical schools. Thanks to the reform, the situation should fundamentally change. Profile lyceums will offer entrants 3 profiles: linguistic and literary, social and humanitarian, and STEM. The radical approach to education will change in favor of concentration on in-depth study of subjects necessary for the future profession. Reducing the number of subjects will relieve students and give them the opportunity to improve their level of knowledge in the main subjects. This reform is fully oriented towards compliance with European standards and meets the demands of the labor market.

But the item “reduction in the number of items” causes some concern. The issue of excessive workload of schoolchildren has been a concern for a long time. Our children spend a lot of time in lessons and also in online learning. It is clear that preparing well for all lessons and completing homework in all subjects is not an easy task for our students. Starting in 2027, it is planned to remove from the list of compulsory subjects those that, according to officials from the ministry, are not important for Ukrainian schoolchildren.  Instead, with the beginning of the reform of the senior specialized school, students of grades 10-12 will study 7 compulsory subjects:

• Ukrainian language
• Ukrainian literature
• History of Ukraine
• English
• Mathematics
• Physical culture
• “Defense of Ukraine”

But the “extra” items became:

• Foreign literature
• World history
• Civic education
• Biology/ecology
• Geography
• Physics and chemistry.

Specialists of the Ministry of Education and Culture assure that some of the disciplines subject to reduction do not disappear without a trace, but can be integrated into already existing subjects, which simplifies the educational process. It is doubtful that children aged 15-16 years can confidently claim that he does not need basic knowledge of physics, biology or chemistry at all. It is advisable to introduce specialized education in senior classes, and in basic school, students should get an idea of ​​many different subjects in order to be able to independently choose the direction of study after completing basic secondary education. Therefore, it is necessary not to change the hours, or to delete subjects from the educational program, but rather to work on the quality and sequence of teaching the material in general.

There are also subjects that often have general educational value and form a broad worldview. For example, the history of arts or the basics of ethics cannot be called “superfluous”, because they develop cultural and moral consciousness. Combining several subjects can turn them into a chaotic conglomerate of information, where there will be no time left for deep immersion in the topic.

In order to compensate for the educational losses, the Ministry of Education and Culture planned to return children to the desks. The construction of shelters for schools was immediately announced: 57 projects have already received funding from subvention funds, and an additional 5 billion UAH have been allocated for schools and vocational schools. Communities were promised buses to transport students to schools with shelter, schoolchildren – devices for distance learning. It seems that everyone should be satisfied. Although for data ZN.UA currently has 10,111 shelters in schools in Ukraine, but the MES itself does not monitor the situation in schools where there are no shelters at all, and therefore, they still do not have a clear picture of the extent to which educational institutions are equipped with shelters. At the request of the Ministry, the protective shelter must be in the building of the institution or at a distance of no more than 500 m.

The question arises, will the children have time to get to this shelter in a timely and organized manner in case of danger? For example, in Sumy Oblast during the air raid, students were left standing in the open because the shelter of one of the schools was closed at that moment for repairs. So is it worth relying so much on the availability of shelters in educational institutions? And staying in them, well, let’s say, does not contribute to the educational process at all. The room is overcrowded, the material base does not contribute to the realization of educational goals. As a rule, the shelters are designed only to fit all the students there, and then the children, being in such shelters, just go about their business. There is no question of any training at this moment.

At the same time, an “intense transformation” is taking place, as Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Mykhailo Vynnytskyi called it, in higher education. According to officials from the Ministry of Education and Culture, the organization of sectoral specificities of higher education institutions is a remnant of the Soviet system. Therefore, it is necessary to reorganize higher education institutions, because in a larger, multi-disciplinary institution, there are more options for elective subjects. The scale makes it possible to better ensure individual training trajectories of students, they have a wider choice of subjects, greater competition between teachers for students and, accordingly, a better quality of the educational environment.

The MES plans to create three types of institutions:

• a classical university in which programs of humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences are developed;
• universities of applied sciences – institutions that cooperate with business in the direction of applied research, in which dual programs are developed, when training takes place without separation from work;
• worldview academies for creative professions, such as music, visual arts, choreography.

Despite such full-scale plans, we observe how the names of universities change, their number changes, but the quality of education does not change. At the same time, we recall the loud statement of the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Mykhailo Vynnytskyi v  podcast “Dopamine for education” from the NGO “Smart Education” about the fact that higher education in Ukraine should be expensive. It is clear that instead of stimulating the quality of education, such a policy will only widen the gap between the rich and the poor. At a time when society needs qualified personnel, the authorities are doing everything possible to stop this flow, blocking access to knowledge for those who cannot pay for expensive diplomas. Such a decision sounds like a sentence for hundreds of thousands of young Ukrainians, whose only hope for a better future is to acquire knowledge. In most countries of the world, states provide powerful support to students: free education, scholarships, social programs. They understand that an educated generation is the key to economic growth and stability. Instead, in Ukraine, the government actually cuts off access to education to those who need it most.

Finally, I would like to mention the poor teachers who feel all the changes in education and bear this burden together with the fire of knowledge that is kindled in the hearts of our schoolchildren. The Ministry of Education and Culture constantly sets new requirements for the certification of teachers. In 2023, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine announced new changes to the Regulation on the Certification of Pedagogical Workers. The changes are aimed at improving the quality of education and simplifying the certification process, but for many teachers they have become an additional burden.

New requirements brought even more stress to the teacher’s routine work. Teachers now have to meet more criteria that relate to both professional achievements and the use of modern technologies in education. An important component of the new system was the assessment of students’ success. This has caused a lot of discussion, since success depends on many factors that the teacher cannot always influence (social status of the family, material and technical support of the school, etc.). Teachers are now required to take regular refresher courses and participate in professional seminars. Although this could be a positive aspect, many teachers note that they are forced to take these courses formally, with no real opportunity to apply the knowledge in practice. Attestation commissions now have more autonomy, but this has also led to differences in approaches to attestation in different regions.

With the growing number of criteria for certification, teachers feel more burdened. Many teachers complain that they are forced to spend more time preparing for certification than the actual educational process. Constant pressure due to the need to meet new requirements and ensure high student results leads to stress and emotional burnout. Teachers note that the bureaucratic approach to evaluating their work creates additional difficulties instead of support. Despite the new requirements, the financial situation for most teachers has not improved. Salaries remain low, and additional duties and requirements are not accompanied by appropriate financial incentives.

Due to the increasing workload and lack of proper conditions, many teachers leave the profession. This process only exacerbates the problem of the lack of qualified teachers in Ukrainian schools. The new criteria do not take into account the real problems of the educational process: a decrease in the number of students in classes, insufficient financing of schools, outdated educational materials. Currently, there is a shocking trend with the outflow of teachers from schools. If this continues in the future, Ukrainian schools will simply have no one to teach our children.

The saddest thing in this story is that those for whom all this is supposedly being done suffer in such conditions. Pupils and students who need knowledge receive a constant experiment instead of education. Teachers and lecturers who were promised support – only new reports. And society, which hopes for a high-quality education system, remains with the eternal “well, next year something will definitely improve.”

As we can see, all these problems go in a chain one after the other, are often closely intertwined and lead to one big problem – the unsatisfactory quality of education. Can the MES be accused of inaction? On the contrary, lately the Ministry of Education and Science has been releasing reform ideas like hotcakes. Only everything that comes up without discussion with all the participants of the educational process is unlikely to give a positive result, and, on the contrary, like a chronic disease, it will remain and will bother you for the rest of your life.  It is clear that education is a field that is closely related to the life of society, and therefore must meet the requirements of the time and constantly change.  It is good that the state has a driving force that pushes for changes in the educational process and, obviously, a vision of what the modern educational space should be has been formed. Of course, it takes time and balanced actions to improve.

Therefore, the reforms of the Ministry of Education and Culture are a kind of game in the dark. There is movement, shifts are happening, but the question is “where exactly?” remains open. Officials of the Ministry of Education and Culture are trying to implement changes, but, unfortunately, not all of them bring us closer to successful, modern education. Reckless decisions often lead to the fact that later you have to blush for your loud statements on the air. Mr. Lisovyi and Mr. Vynnytskyi have repeatedly said that they were simply misunderstood. But not everything is so bad. At least education is now in the spotlight, which is a plus.

We talk about problems, look for solutions, and even if slowly, we move forward. Yes, there are mistakes, but they can be corrected if you start listening to educators, pupils and students. Perhaps all is not lost. Educational reforms need not only inspiration, but also a clear strategy and vision. If these ingredients appear, then even in a dark room light can be found. The main thing is not to stop, but also not to go around in circles, because Ukrainian education deserves more than random experiments.