The British government announced plans on November 4 to develop a GCSE qualification in Ukrainian. Teaching under the new program is expected to begin in September 2028, with the first exams planned for 2029. Exam board AQA will develop the qualification in cooperation with Ukrainian partners.
The course will be open to students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland regardless of their background. The planned exam will cover listening, speaking, reading and writing, and its designers say they will incorporate the language's cultural and historical context.
The decision followed requests from the Ukrainian government and community groups. In original interviews with The Guardian, 20-year-old Vitalii Andronik said he had been urged to take Russian instead of Ukrainian when he arrived in the UK as a 15-year-old refugee. Sofiia Chonka, 16, said she had refused a similar suggestion at school. Schools minister Georgia Gould apologised to students who had faced such pressure.
A grant of approximately £340,000 is funding AQA’s development of the qualification. More than 30,000 Ukrainian children have arrived in the UK since Russia’s full-scale invasion.