Current legislation of Ukraine provides that children with special educational needs (SEN) have a right to additional support within general secondary education institutions (GSEIs).
The Law of Ukraine on Education (закон України ‘Про освіту’) defines the principles governing the education of learners with SEN, inclusive education, and specialised education. The state and local self-government authorities ensure appropriate conditions for the education of such learners at all levels, taking into account their individual needs. The required measures involve inclusive education, individual development programmes, psychological and pedagogical support, and corrective and developmental services. They also include the activities of Inclusive Resource Centres (IRC), universal design and smart adjustment of the educational environment.
At the same time, the Law on Education establishes the framework for specialised education in the fields of arts, sports, military, security, and science. This form of education requires a continuous and integrated educational process. It focuses on the early identification and development of abilities. It integrates into general secondary and other levels of education. A system of benefits, including accommodation, meals, the provision of equipment and scholarships, provides necessary support. The relevant central executive authorities approve standards and programmes for specialised education. The state and local budgets, as well as other sources not prohibited by legislation, provide funding for it.
Definition of the target group(s)
The Law of Ukraine ‘On Complete General Secondary Education’ (закон України ‘Про повну загальну середню освіту’) establishes that the basis of inclusive education in GSEIs is a parental request. It involves opening inclusive or special classes and extended day groups. The GSEI develops an Individual Development Programme for each learner, or, if necessary, an Individual Learning Plan in line with the conclusions of the IRC (Постанова Кабінету Міністрів України ‘Про затвердження Положення про інклюзивно-ресурсний центр). Further information is available on the IRC portal (портал ІРЦ).
A teacher assistant and a learner assistant provide psychological and pedagogical support, corrective and developmental services, and personalised assistance. Current legislation regulates their involvement. Schools create resource rooms and media libraries. There are established procedures for appealing decisions related to the implementation of an individual educational pathway.
Legal and regulatory acts define target groups for support. In particular, the categories of persons with SEN are defined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution ‘Categories (Types) of Special Educational Needs (Difficulties)’ (Постанова Кабінету Міністрів України ‘Категорії (типи) особливих освітніх потреб (труднощів)’), taking into account international standards. This category includes learners who have persistent developmental impairments or learning difficulties and who require adaptations or modifications to the educational process, including:
- Intellectual difficulties may affect memory, attention, thinking, speech, motivation, and volition. They may also affect intellectual functioning, including the ability to generalise, abstract, reason, form judgements, and draw conclusions, as well as acquired knowledge, skills, and competencies.
- Functional difficulties (sensory, motor, speech-related) may affect hearing, vision, mobility, or speech functions. They may relate to sound and syllable production, speech clarity, tempo and rhythm, intonation patterns, voice characteristics, auditory discrimination of speech sounds, vocabulary and grammar use, reading, writing, and communication.
- Physical difficulties may involve limitations in the functioning of organs or limbs of the child’s body, with varying degrees of impact.
- Learning difficulties may affect the performance or organisation of voluntary activities. They include written tasks, mathematical operations, and other forms of learning activity.
- Socio-adaptive (personal or environmental) and socio-cultural difficulties may involve barriers to the development of skills related to adaptation to the social environment. These barriers may affect the organisation of social relationships, behavioural flexibility, integration into social groups and the acceptance of social norms and values. They also involve different forms of social interaction, including communication through sign language or interaction across different cultural contexts.
The IRC determines the right to receive support based on a comprehensive assessment. The IRC identifies the profile of SEN and provides recommendations on the forms and scope of support required in the GSEIs. An automated information system supports the operation of IRCs (Наказ Міністерства освіти і науки України ‘Про затвердження Положення про систему автоматизації роботи інклюзивно-ресурсних центрів’).
Besides the learners formally classified as having SEN, the GSEIs may also provide targeted support to other learners who require additional assistance in practice. This includes learners with high or exceptional academic abilities. The support includes creating individual learning pathways, advanced programmes, or accelerated learning. Though legislation does not define them as learners with SEN.
Where legislation does not provide for specific categorisation, the GSEIs organise support in line with learners’ individual needs. Pedagogical councils or psychological service specialists determine these needs. These mechanisms allow GSEIs to assist regardless of the presence or absence of formal status.
Specific support measures
Within Ukraine’s general secondary education system, schools meet SEN mainly through inclusive education. Inclusive education fully integrates learners into mainstream classes and provides individually defined forms of support. For certain groups of learners in need of more intensive or specialised assistance, schools may set up special classes or groups within GSEIs. Parents make this choice, and the IRC provides recommendations.
The support system covers a wide range of measures. The GSEIs apply these measures in line with the Individual Development Programme and specialist recommendations. These measures include:
- involving specialist teachers, teacher assistants, and psychological and pedagogical support professionals;
- using specialised methods and learning materials that support correction and development of cognitive, speech, language, and social skills;
- adapting or modifying curricula, learning content, and the pace of learning;
- cooperating with social protection, healthcare services, and other institutions involved in meeting the child’s needs;
- applying specific assessment procedures, including adapted or alternative forms of checking learning outcomes;
- reducing class size to ensure comfortable learning conditions, where appropriate;
- providing an accessible learning environment, including universal design and reasonable adjustment.
The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine ‘On Approval of the Procedure for Organising Inclusive Education in General Secondary Education Institutions’ (Постанова Кабінету Міністрів України ‘Про затвердження Порядку організації інклюзивного навчання у закладах загальної середньої освіти’) sets out the organisational framework for inclusive education for learners with SEN studying in person in the GSEIs. This Resolution defines:
- levels of support;
- criteria for determining support needs;
- conditions for providing support;
- funding arrangements;
- the procedure for receiving support in the educational process;
- the individual educational track and how schools implement it;
- provision of assistance learning tools;
- arrangements for the learning environment;
- rules for ongoing, semester, and annual assessment and/or state final attestation.
The GSEIs organise inclusive education based on a parental application and an IRC recommendation. The GSEI creates inclusive classes, forms a psychological and pedagogical support team. It also prepares an Individual Development Programme, and, an Individual Learning Plan as needed.
GSEIs provide different levels of support, from temporary to permanent. They also offer psychological and pedagogical support, and individual or group corrective and developmental lessons. A teacher assistant takes part, and a pupil assistant supports the learner where necessary.
GSEIs must ensure that buildings remain accessible. They equip resource rooms and media libraries, provide assistance tools and equipment, and adapt or modify learning content. During martial law, GSEIs may deviate from limits on the number of learners with SEN in a single class. They also may use blended learning more widely.
GSEIs assess such learners under the general rules, while taking account of individual plans. The state and local budgets, and other sources permitted by legislation finance inclusive education.