10 profiles for 10th grade: how learning will change for Ukrainian high school students

The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine approved the Model Educational Program for profile secondary education with a professional orientation.

This is one of the key stages of the senior school reform, which is intended to expand students’ opportunities to choose their own educational trajectory.

From 1 September 2027 students entering 10th grade will be able to choose between the academic track and profile education with a professional orientation.

The professional track will combine obtaining a complete general secondary education with the acquisition of practical skills.

Students will be able to choose one of 10 profiles: agricultural, construction, transport-logistics, engineering-technological, medical, IT, business and administration, education and humanities, hospitality and event management, and beauty and design services.

Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Dmytro Zavhorodniy noted that the new program should help senior students better understand their future professional path.

“The new program gives senior students more opportunities to make an informed choice about their future. Students will not only be able to obtain a complete general secondary education, but also become familiar with professions, gain practical experience, and better understand which professional path they want to choose. This is an important step in the reform of secondary education, where learning is connected to real life and future careers”

The program will last three years and will amount to 180 ECTS credits of classroom and independent study.

In the first year students will go through a profile-adaptation stage, and over the next two years they will gradually deepen their knowledge and practical skills.

Over a third of the program will be devoted to profile educational components related to the chosen field of activity. A further over 11% will consist of elective subjects that students can choose according to their own interests and labor market needs.

Depending on the profile, the distribution of study time among subjects will vary. For example, the IT profile will place more emphasis on mathematics and digital technologies, the medical profile on biology and chemistry, and the “Business and Administration” profile on mathematics and a foreign language.

A feature of the program will be the study of general education subjects through a practical professional context. For example, mathematics in the IT profile will be linked to algorithms and digital technologies, a foreign language in the business profile to professional communication, and certain biology topics in the transport-logistics profile to driver health and occupational safety.

The Ministry of Education and Science (MON) emphasizes that this approach corresponds to the practices of many European countries, including Finland, Austria, Germany and other EU states, where the professional track is a full-fledged part of senior secondary school.

Upon completion of studies, graduates will receive a certificate of complete general secondary education and will also be able to confirm their professional qualifications through qualification centers.

They will then be able to continue their studies in vocational, professional pre-higher, or higher education institutions, or begin professional activity in the chosen field.

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