Georgia Gould apologised to refugee children from Ukraine after schools in England pushed some toward Russian GCSE study, and she announced funding for a new Ukrainian GCSE in England. The move affects more than 30,000 Ukrainian children who have fled to the UK. The qualification will be developed by AQA and is due to be ready in 2028.
Georgia Gould and AQA
Gould said: “So many students were pushed into having to do Russian. I’m really sorry that they were put in that position. It’s really important that they will have access to a Ukrainian GCSE.” She also said: “It was one of the Ukrainian government’s asks of us that we deliver a Ukrainian GCSE, and one of the asks from the community and young people.”
The Department for Education is backing the work with a £340,000 grant. That funding goes to AQA, which will design the qualification for England. Gould framed the move as part of wider support for Ukrainian children who have settled in the UK after the 2022 invasion.
Sofiia Chonka in London
Sofiia Chonka, who fled to London from Zakarpattia in south-west Ukraine in June 2024 with her family, said she was told to study Russia in year 9. “I was told to study Russia in year 9, I just said ‘no’. I didn’t want anything to do with Russia – they killed my people and injured my family,” she said.
Chonka has just started A-levels. She added: “It’s such a beautiful thing to be speaking Ukrainian when the Russians are trying to mute you.”
Ukrainian families push back
Vitalii Andronik said he had been urged to study Russian GCSE as a 15-year-old refugee. “It’s too late to me, but I want future generations of refugees to study Ukrainian. It’s a recognition of the trauma that we went through. It’s brilliant news to hear that in future kids here won’t have to study Russian,” he said.
Andrii Butenko said: “This will give Ukrainian children forced to leave their homes by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine an equal opportunity to choose their native language as a GCSE subject.” The new qualification answers a problem raised in 2024, when the education ministry in Kyiv said many Ukrainian children were being pressured by school staff to pass the Russian GCSE because there was no Ukrainian GCSE.
England in 2028
The gap will not close quickly. The new Ukrainian GCSE is due to be ready in England in 2028, so pupils who need a Ukrainian-language option still face a wait even after the apology and funding announcement. For families who have already had to navigate Russian GCSE teaching, the change creates a future route into a subject in their own language, but only after the current intake moves through school.
