Ukraine NUSH curriculum

Overview

Ukraine has been restructuring its school system since 2018 under a reform known as the New Ukrainian School (Нова українська школа, NUSH). The reform extends general secondary education from 11 to 12 years and reorganises it into three levels: primary education (4 years), basic secondary education (5 years), and profile secondary education (3 years). The rollout is staged rather than immediate: the primary-level changes started with first grade in September 2018, basic secondary education moved to the new standard from fifth grade in September 2022, and profile secondary education (grades 10-12) is still being piloted in a limited number of schools, with full nationwide implementation planned from the 2027-2028 school year. This file covers the overall school structure and the NUSH reform; Ukraine's national university-entrance exam, the National Multi-subject Test (NMT, which replaced the earlier External Independent Evaluation, ZNO), is covered in its own separate file and only briefly cross-referenced here.

Russia's full-scale invasion since February 2022 has disrupted schooling across much of the country alongside the reform itself. Depending on the region and the security situation, students attend school in person, in a blended in-person/remote format, or fully online; UNICEF reported that at the end of the 2024/25 school year, over a third of students were not fully learning in a classroom, and around 11% were studying exclusively online. The pace and detail of NUSH implementation can vary by school and region as a result.

Who it covers

Complete general secondary education is compulsory and free for every child in Ukraine, from around age 6 to around age 18. Children normally start primary education in the school year in which they turn 6 or 7. The three levels of schooling, and their normal age ranges, are:

• Primary education: grades 1-4, roughly ages 6-10.

• Basic secondary education: grades 5-9, roughly ages 10-15.

• Profile secondary education: grades 10-12 (the first two of these were historically grades 10-11, under the pre-reform 11-year system still used in schools that have not yet moved to the 12-year structure), roughly ages 15-18.

Structure

Primary education

The first level is taught under the State Standard for Primary Education, built around NUSH's child-centred, competency-based approach rather than a single fixed textbook-driven syllabus. Subjects are often integrated rather than taught as isolated periods, and the early primary grades favour descriptive, formative feedback over number or letter grades. Primary education ends with a state final attestation (SFA) in Ukrainian language, reading and mathematics; this SFA is used to monitor the quality of teaching nationally and does not affect a pupil's year-end grade.

Basic secondary education (gymnasium)

The second level, sometimes referred to by the institution type that delivers it, a gymnasium, continues the same competency-based curriculum framework at a deeper level, adding subjects such as a foreign language, history, geography, physics, chemistry and biology as pupils move through the five grades. Basic secondary education ends with its own state final attestation, marked on Ukraine's 12-point scale, which schools use to confirm that a pupil has met the required standard for this level.

Profile secondary education (lyceum)

The third level is meant to let each student choose a subject profile, for example sciences, humanities, or a vocational specialisation combined with general education, rather than follow one fixed track. Under the completed NUSH design, this level is delivered in a dedicated academic lyceum (grades 10-12) separate from the gymnasium, with grade 10 used mainly to confirm a student's profile choice and grades 11-12 for in-depth study of profile subjects and electives. Because this level is still being piloted school by school rather than rolled out everywhere at once, the exact subjects on offer, and whether a given school already runs the new 3-year lyceum structure or the older 2-year senior-secondary structure, varies by school and should be checked with the school directly.

Curriculum standards

NUSH's stated aim is to shift Ukrainian schooling from rote memorisation of subject content toward ten key competencies the state standards define for every level, including communication in the state language, mathematical competence, competence in science and technology, digital competence, learning-to-learn, civic and social competencies, and others common to the reform's design. Teaching is meant to be child-centred: building lessons around a pupil's interests and abilities, integrating subjects rather than teaching them in isolation, and giving individual schools and teachers more freedom to choose teaching methods, textbooks and, within limits, how the standard curriculum is sequenced. Separate state standards exist for primary education and for basic secondary education; a corresponding standard for profile secondary education is part of what is still being finalised and piloted as that level rolls out.

Assessment approach

Day-to-day assessment is continuous and school-based. Ukraine's national framework distinguishes formative assessment (ongoing, often without a numeric grade, used mainly in early primary grades), current thematic assessment, and final assessment at the end of a term and a school year. From basic secondary education onward, schools mark learners on the official 12-point scale, or on their own scale that they must be able to convert to the 12-point scale. Separately from this continuous assessment, a state final attestation (SFA) sits at the end of primary education (covering Ukrainian language, reading and mathematics, used to monitor teaching quality rather than to grade the pupil) and again at the end of basic secondary education (marked on the 12-point scale, confirming a pupil has met the level's standard).

After school

Completing profile secondary education and receiving a certificate of complete general secondary education is what allows a student to apply to university in Ukraine. University admission itself runs through a separate national exam, the National Multi-subject Test (NMT), administered by the Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment; the NMT replaced the earlier External Independent Evaluation (ZNO) and is covered in full, including its subjects and scoring, in its own programme file.

Preparation tips

• Check directly with a specific school which level of the NUSH reform it has already implemented, since primary and basic secondary are nationwide but profile secondary (grades 10-12) is still mid-rollout and varies school by school.

• Treat the grade 10 profile or subject-cluster choice as a real decision to plan ahead for, since it shapes which subjects a student studies in depth through grades 11-12 and, in turn, which NMT subjects they will need for university admission.

• Where schooling has moved to a blended or fully remote format because of regional security conditions, confirm with the school how continuous (formative and thematic) assessment is being carried out, since this can differ from the in-person norm.

• Keep track of a school's own grading methodology if it uses one instead of the official 12-point scale directly, since it must still convert to the 12-point scale for any official record.