On 10 June, the Polaris Programme ‘Supporting Multi-Level Governance in Ukraine’, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, held a seminar at which an ‘Analysis of Key Gaps and Contradictions in the Legal Framework for Pre-school Education in Ukraine’ was presented.

This analytical document was prepared by experts from the Polaris Programme at the request of the MES of Ukraine. Representatives from the relevant ministry, the State Service for the Quality of Education of Ukraine, the Institute of Educational Analytics, the Office of the Education Ombudsman, UNICEF, the Association of Early Childhood Education Workers, the All-Ukrainian Association of Territorial Communities, as well as specialists and experts working on the development of the early childhood education system, took part in the professional discussion.

“We needed an impartial analysis of the state of affairs in the regulatory framework for pre-school education. And now we are ready to launch a working group to develop policies based on high-quality analyses and data,” said Anastasia Konovalova, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Lilia Hrynevych, an education policy expert of the Polaris Programme, presented the methodological approaches used in the study. As part of the preparation of the document, the legislative and regulatory framework in the field of pre-school education was analysed, focus groups were held with hromadas education administrators and heads of pre-school education institutions, and international experience was taken into account.

“Ukraine’s new Law ‘On Pre-school Education’ has opened up opportunities for change, but its successful implementation requires high-quality regulatory support. That is precisely why it was important to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the current legal framework, identify problem areas and lay the groundwork for future decisions that will help the system to develop,” noted Lilia Hrynevych.

Oleksandr Sych, an expert on regulatory and legal frameworks and the main author of the document, noted that, in addition to the important changes introduced by the new Law of Ukraine ‘On Pre-school Education’, the system requires the elimination of a number of regulatory gaps and inconsistencies. In particular, this involves updating certain regulatory documents, bringing subordinate legislation into line with the new legislation, and improving the rules governing the operation of pre-school education institutions.

The seminar participants also discussed the challenges faced by hromadas and pre-school education institutions: from staffing and the employment rights of teaching staff to ensuring the accessibility and inclusivity of pre-school education, improving funding mechanisms, increasing the autonomy of institutions and reducing the bureaucratic burden.

The results presented will form the basis for further work on improving pre-school education in Ukraine. The next steps will be to analyse the sector’s funding mechanisms and prepare recommendations for their reform, as well as to study European practices in the management and funding of pre-school education.

This is the second phase of the analytical work between the Ministry of Education and Science and the Polaris programme in the field of pre-school education. The first step was the launch of the first-ever study in the history of independent Ukraine, ‘Pre-school education in Ukraine today: An overview of the legislative, institutional and budgetary foundations of pre-school education in Ukraine from an international perspective’, which was presented in 2025.

Read the analytical report ‘Analysis of the main gaps and inconsistencies in the regulatory framework for pre-school education in Ukraine’ by clicking on the link.