Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science has clarified under the new rules that teachers are allowed to flexibly manage the duration of lessons and the order of subjects in the schedule. This was stated by Minister of Education and Science Andrii Butenko on a telethon broadcast, as noted by the RBC-Ukraine publication. In his words, the fixed 45 minutes are no longer an end in themselves: the priority is the quality of students' mastery of the educational material and the achievement of the curriculum's learning outcomes.
Flexibility instead of rigid frameworks
As Butenko explained, a teacher has the right to independently determine the length of a lesson depending on the condition and level of fatigue of the students. If the children are tired, a lesson can last not 45, but 40 or even 35 minutes. "The main thing for us is to achieve the curriculum's learning outcomes so that children acquire knowledge. If necessary, it can be changed," the minister emphasized. Thus, the duration of a lesson transforms from a rigid norm into a tool that adapts to the actual capabilities of the class at a given moment.
Reordering subjects in the schedule
In addition to shortening the time, teachers have been allowed to swap subjects in the schedule. According to Butenko, this makes it possible to schedule the most difficult disciplines for those parts of the day when students better retain their attention and are able to absorb the material more effectively. The logic of the approach is simple: the difficult subjects come first, while attention is at its peak, and more routine lessons can be moved to times when concentration naturally declines.
Security context and adaptive algorithms
The changes are being made against the backdrop of requirements for organizing the educational process in wartime conditions. It was previously reported that during air raids, Kyiv schools operate under adaptive algorithms that account for various threat scenarios: during distance learning, classes are paused for a few minutes so that students and teachers can move to a safe place, after which the lesson resumes. The Ministry of Education also emphasized that the organization of education in the 2026/2027 academic year must take the security situation into account: as of the beginning of September, 90% of general secondary education institutions are equipped with shelters or have access to rented protective structures.
What this means in practice
For local schools, the decision means an expansion of the teacher's autonomy: the teacher decides for themselves when to shorten a lesson and when to swap subjects, guided by the condition of the class rather than just the entry in the schedule. For students, this potentially means a more comfortable and effective rhythm; for the administration, it means the need to trust the teacher's professional judgment. At the same time, the key criterion remains not "sitting through" the allotted time, but ensuring the real mastery of the curriculum.
