Poland has introduced a Ukrainian language A-level, and 500 students are already studying the subject
Pavlo Levchuk spoke about this in an interview published by the Pylyp Orlyk Foundation.
Pavlo Levchuk is a linguist, Polish studies specialist, Slavicist, associate professor at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and author of a curriculum for teaching Ukrainian as a second foreign language to pupils in Years 7–8 of Polish general education schools and lyceums. In 2025, a corresponding programme was published in Poland, and the version for lyceums was prepared with the support of the Pylyp Orlyk Foundation.
According to Levchuk, he does not specify the exact number of schools that have already introduced Ukrainian into their curriculum, but according to data from the Polish education system, over 500 pupils are currently studying under his programme. Among the cities where this process is progressing most actively, he named Warsaw, Bielsko-Biała, Kraków and Wrocław. Lyceum No. 15 in Wrocław was one of the first to introduce the programme. Furthermore, the programme for Years 7–8 has been downloaded online over 1,400 times in the past six months and is freely available.
As Levchuk explained, from 2024 all Ukrainian children, like other foreign nationals, will be required to attend Polish schools. At the same time, Polish legislation allows schools to introduce the study of the language of the country of origin if there is a request from at least seven pupils. In such cases, the school must provide the necessary infrastructure.
A separate step was the introduction of the Ukrainian language as a foreign language in the school-leaving exam. Levchuk emphasised that from 2026, school leavers in Poland will be able to choose Ukrainian for their exam alongside English, German or French. According to him, this is the first such precedent in the world. Currently, as the linguist noted, over 200 pupils have already registered for the Ukrainian language matriculation exam in Poland.
He also pointed out that at the start of 2026, there were between 1.5 and over 2 million Ukrainian citizens in Poland, of whom around 993,000 hold PESEL UKR temporary protection status. Against this backdrop, he believes that the introduction of the Ukrainian language exam opens up the possibility for Ukrainians in Poland to continue their education after taking the exam in their native language.
Levchuk added that the curricula for Years 7–8 of general secondary schools were designed at A1 level, and for lyceums, technical colleges and vocational schools at A2–B1 level. Both curricula, he said, were published in July and August 2025.
As a reminder, The Guardian journalist Charlotte Higgins recounts in her new book how culture in Ukraine has become a form of survival and resistance during the full-scale war.
