Upper secondary schools get 175 new curricula, from Year 9 in 2026-2027

Pupils entering Year 9 in September 2026 will study under curricula written from scratch, and the text approving them runs to seven articles and 176 annexes. The Ministry of Education and Research has published Order no. 4.106/2026, the act that approves the school curricula for the subjects in the framework curriculum plans for upper secondary education. It is the centrepiece of the curriculum reform, completed shortly afterwards by the order approving the curricula for special upper secondary education.

The order has a simple structure. Article 1 approves the master list of school curricula, set out in Annex no. 1. Article 2 approves the curricula themselves for full-time upper secondary education, set out in Annexes nos. 2-176, that is 175 separate curricula. Article 5 states that all 176 annexes form an integral part of the order.

The timetable is the one in Articles 3 and 4. The curricula apply progressively, starting with Year 9 of the 2026-2027 school year, and each curriculum is valid for eight years, counted from the school year in which it starts to apply to that year group. In practice, a single cohort goes through upper secondary school with the same set of curricula, and the ministry is committing to a period of stability that runs towards 2034-2038.

What it changes in practice

The list of upper secondary syllabuses grew by one more, on the elective side: NATO in the contemporary world can be taught in grade X, one hour a week.

The first effect is the one felt directly in the classroom. From September 2026, Year 9 teachers will teach under the new curricula, while the old curricula remain valid only for the year groups already in upper secondary school. The 2026-2027 school year will therefore run with two sets of curricula in parallel, a situation that will repeat for another three years, until the changeover is complete.

The second effect falls on textbooks and supplementary materials. A new curriculum means a new textbook tender, and publishers work from the approved curriculum, not from the draft. Publication in the Official Gazette of Romania is the moment from which the text becomes a binding reference for everyone.

The third effect has to do with the sheer size of the document. The annexes did not fit into the ordinary edition and were published separately, in Official Gazette of Romania no. 598 bis, which runs to 5,218 pages split across five volumes. By comparison, the order itself takes up a single page of the main edition.

The fourth effect concerns coverage. The set is not limited to the compulsory core curriculum subjects. The curricula also cover the specialised curriculum by track and stream, modern languages, the pedagogy subjects for vocational upper secondary schools, physical education and sport, as well as mother-tongue language and literature for the national minorities: Hungarian, Ukrainian, German, Serbian, Czech, Turkish, Bulgarian, Modern Greek and Romani.

The fifth effect is administrative. Article 6 assigns responsibility for implementing the order to the General Directorate for Equity and Performance in Pre-University Education, the General Directorate for Minorities and Desegregation, the National Centre for Curriculum and Assessment, the National Centre for the Development of Technical and Vocational Education, the county school inspectorates and the schools themselves.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

The fundamental change is that upper secondary education receives a curriculum built on the framework curriculum plans adopted in 2025, rather than one adapted as it goes along. The order rests on three framework curriculum plan orders: no. 4.350/2025 for full-time upper secondary schools, no. 6.873/2025 for special upper secondary schools, for classes with intensive or bilingual teaching of a modern language, for classes with intensive computer science and for evening or part-time education, and no. 6.932/2025 for upper secondary schools teaching in the languages of the national minorities.

The second change is the guaranteed duration. Until now, a curriculum could be replaced without any announced horizon. Article 4 fixes eight years for each year of study, which gives teachers and publishers a timeframe they can plan their work around.

The third change concerns the legal basis. The order is issued under Article 88(2) and (10) of the Pre-University Education Act no. 198/2023 and takes into account Government Decision no. 251/2025 on the organisation and functioning of the National Centre for Curriculum and Assessment, the institution that has taken over the task of drafting the curriculum.

The fourth change, less visible, has to do with methodology. The drafting and approval of the curriculum continue to follow the Methodology approved by Order of the Minister of National Education no. 3.593/2014, and the transitional measures in Order no. 6.072/2023 remain applicable. The procedural framework was not rewritten alongside the curricula.

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