Development of Specialized Education for Academically Gifted Students in Ukraine in Early XXI Century

The article presents the evolution of changes in the education of gifted youth in Ukraine in early XXI century. The emphasis has been placed on the socio-political transformations and on the secondary education level reform. It has been established that the system of general secondary education began to be built on the basis of humanism, variability and profiling. Educational institutions of the “new type” have become widespread. Such institutions competed with each other, trying to attract the most gifted students. It has been proven that in order to increase the intellectual potential of the future generation, implementation of grant programs and projects has begun at the state level. In particular, the Program for working with gifted children for 2001 – 2005 and 2006 – 2010 has been approved, the Concept of specialized education has been revised three times (2003, 2009, 2013), and data banks for gifted students have been implemented. It has been noted that in order to maximize the development of the abilities of academically gifted students, various psychological and pedagogical projects and programs have been implemented in Ukraine, such as: Rostock, Intellect of Ukraine, School of Life Success, School of the Future, etc. It has been emphasized that the development of academically gifted students in extracurricular time was provided by the state-public association of the Minor Academy of Sciences. It has been established that the problems of inclusion and equal access to education were at the forefront of changes with the introduction of the reform of the New Ukrainian School. Prospects for further research have been planned in the disclosure of modern approaches to teaching gifted students in the conditions of the current state standard.