High school reform: Minister of Education launches national program for piloting new framework plans

Our country is taking the first concrete steps towards a curricular reform in high school education. Minister of Education, Daniel David, signed the order regarding the establishment of the National Program for the systemic piloting of framework plans, which targets all forms of high school - state, private and denominational. The measure comes after a long period of consultations and public debates, aimed at ensuring the inclusion of the points of view of teachers, students, parents and specialists.

• Two variants of the framework plan

The Minister specified that there are currently two variants of the framework plans. The standard variant, recently approved, reflects the proposals collected in the consultation process and has undergone important changes: it emphasizes the student's profile and specialization; introduces a national culture module, with an emphasis on grammar, history and geography of Romania; aims to develop the eight European key competences; decentralizes the decision on the optional curriculum to the school and the student; gives schools the freedom to choose and implement subjects relevant to their community. The Minister explained that decentralization does not mean eliminating classes, but an adaptation of the educational offer to meet the needs of students and stimulate their active involvement.

For schools that want more flexibility, the National Pilot Program provides the legal and methodological framework for customizing the curriculum at the level of the educational unit.

• New programs, modern textbooks and teacher training

The next steps of the reform are already outlined. By November 2025, mixed teams of teachers from pre-university and university, together with experts from the Romanian Academy, will develop new school programs. These will be inspired by the curricular models of countries with outstanding educational results and will focus on: more relevant and airy content; the link between pre-university and university education; allocating 25% of the disciplinary time for consolidation, remediation and practical applicability.

Based on these programs, new textbooks will be developed, combining classical methods with digital and interactive resources, including gamification elements, where appropriate. The tender for the new textbooks will take place in December 2025.

The in-service training component for teachers is essential for the success of the reform. It will start in January 2026, to prepare teachers to implement the new curricular approaches effectively.

• Impact of the reform: results in 5 years

The implementation of the new framework plans will start with the 9th grade, in the 2026-2027 school year, and will be gradually extended to all high school levels. Daniel David is optimistic: "If we programmatically implement these new models, we expect significantly better educational results in the next five years - reflected in the reduction of functional illiteracy, school dropout and in the increase of national and international performance”.

A more flexible, more relevant high school, closer to the needs of the student and the realities of society - this is the promise of the new reform. With a clear implementation horizon and a modern vision, the Romanian educational system seems ready, finally, to make a qualitative leap in the training of future generations.