The Ministry of Education and Science is launching new textbooks for Years 1 and 5: what will change

This was announced by the Ministry of Education and Science.

The Ministry of Education and Science has announced a need for textbooks for Years 1 and 5. This is the first stage of a two-year textbook development cycle.

At this stage, the state determines the list of subjects and integrated courses for which new textbooks need to be created. It is on the basis of these subjects that teams of authors and publishers can begin their work.

Once developed, the textbooks will undergo several stages of quality control. These include pilot testing, expert review and a competitive selection process. Only then will they be printed and delivered to educational institutions.

Textbooks for Years 1 and 5 will be produced for the first time on a two-year cycle. Previously, the entire process took one year. Pilot testing was also carried out, but it was time-limited and took place in parallel with other stages of preparation.

Under the new model, the process will last two years and will include a full year of pilot testing in schools. This means that the textbooks will be tested in a real educational setting throughout the academic year.

During the piloting phase, feedback will be gathered from teachers and pupils. After this, the author teams will refine the textbooks, and only then will they be submitted for comprehensive expert review.

In 2026, the Ministry of Education and Science will announce the requirement and the development of textbooks will begin.

By the end of August 2026, the textbooks must receive the UIRP stamp ‘Approved for use in the educational process during testing’.

From September 2026, pilot testing in schools will begin. It will continue throughout the academic year.

In 2027, the author teams will finalise the textbooks. After this, they must undergo expert review and a competitive selection process.

In early 2028, printing of the textbooks will begin, along with their translation into the languages of national minorities and adaptation for large print and Braille.

Delivery of the textbooks to schools is scheduled for the first half of 2028.

Kateryna Molodyk, the coordinator for educational content development at the NUS Implementation Office under the Ministry of Education and Science, stated that the new model should make the process of preparing teaching materials more predictable and systematic.

“We are moving towards a more predictable and systematic model of textbook production and moving away from a model where textbooks are produced under excessive time pressure, without sufficient time for proper testing in the classroom and timely delivery to educational institutions, particularly those where teaching takes place in the languages of national minorities. For the first time, we are introducing a full year of pilot testing so that author teams can refine the textbooks based on practical use in schools and the feedback received. The new model also allows more time for translation into the languages of national minorities and for adapting textbooks for children with special educational needs. Our aim is for educational institutions to receive high-quality, modern and proven teaching materials on time in 2028, materials that help both teachers and pupils,” commented Kateryna Molodyk.

Textbooks for Year 1 will be developed in accordance with the updated State Standard for Primary Education, approved in 2025, as well as the Model Curriculum, approved in 2026.

The Model Curriculum for Years 1–4, which first-year pupils will begin studying in 2028, will be the same across the whole country. At the same time, the Ministry of Education and Science noted that it offers greater flexibility to schools and teachers.

In particular, the programme allows for the combination of different teaching approaches, the adaptation of the educational process to pupils’ needs, and the use of reserve teaching hours.

One of the innovations of the Standard Curriculum for Years 1–4 is a list of model curricula that educational institutions will use in the teaching process.

The Ministry of Education and Science noted that model curricula for primary education had not been developed previously, so this will be a new experience for the author teams.

It is expected that, together with the textbook, the authoring team will submit the curriculum on which the textbook is based for expert review.

Following the trialling of the textbook, such a curriculum will acquire model status and receive the stamp “Recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine”. In effect, each textbook will correspond to a single model curriculum.

The same two-year development model will also be applied to teaching materials for Year 5.

The content of textbooks for Year 5, in addition to the State Standard for Basic Secondary Education and the corresponding Model Curriculum, will be based on the concepts of educational fields developed within the framework of the “Education for Life” policy.

These concepts define the logic of learning, expected outcomes and links between different subjects. They also outline approaches to developing competencies and the practical application of knowledge in real-life situations.

As reported by ThePublic, schools in Lutsk and Rivne are temporarily switching to distance learning.

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