80,000 children and youth from Ukraine in a Polish school

– press release

The GrowSPACE Foundation presented initial information on the support for children and youth from Ukraine in a Polish school. According to the information, up to 80,000 young people from Ukraine have enrolled in a Polish school in connection with the introduction of compulsory schooling for this group from September 1, 2024. The GrowSPACE Foundation presented the first data on the preparation of schools to support this group. We showed the number of local governments providing support and the first data on the employment of intercultural assistants in schools. The school year begins with a lot of uncertainty.

The GrowSPACE Foundation sent an inquiry regarding the employment of intercultural assistants in schools and additional support for children and youth from Ukraine to all communes, counties and cities with county rights in Poland. 90% of local governments in Poland provided answers, and the information comes from pre-approved organizational sheets of public schools before the start of the school year. The data was presented in cooperation with the Stand with Ukraine Foundation and the Union of Ukrainians in Poland.

The collected data shows a big unknown in education from September 2, 2024. Across Poland, 71 local governments have planned to employ intercultural assistants before the start of the year, and 10 will do so after September 1. 682 local governments declare that they will organize additional Polish language lessons, and 331 declare that they will organize additional didactic and compensatory classes. 298 local governments declare that they will organize additional psychological and pedagogical support. Another 73 local governments will organize additional integration and intercultural activities.

- These data do not surprise us. We are not surprised that the planned support is quite small, because it is not known how many children and youth from Ukraine will actually fulfill the school obligation by the first bell. We also do not know what has happened to these children over the last 2.5 years. Local governments, principals and teachers are starting this school year with many unknowns - this is how we can sum up the conclusions regarding support for children and youth from Ukraine. - Comments Dominik Kuc, member of the Board of the GrowSPACE Foundation - This is a huge systemic gap, despite many years of appeals from non-governmental organizations, the previous Ministry was not able to meet this challenge. Now we are actually cleaning up and wandering in the fog, because we do not know what deficiencies the children will come to us with. I am convinced that the numbers will improve, but we cannot ignore the language and teaching barriers.

Systemic support scattered

According to the responses of local governments (as of August 2024), only a small part of local governments declare providing key organizational and systemic support. 69 local governments declare material support. This includes, for example, purchasing textbooks, materials, teaching aids, and even transport to schools. 24 local governments declare that they employ a teacher or psychologist from Ukraine in schools, and slightly fewer, 21 local governments, declare that they employ a dedicated teacher's assistant to support children and young people from Ukraine. Another 20 local governments declare that they will open or continue to run preparatory classes.

However, it is worrying that as many as 1,391 local governments are unable to provide additional support for young people from Ukraine - that is, support that is beyond the statutory framework. These 1.3 thousand local governments require support from the public administration, and above all, the government, to be able to provide the best possible conditions for learning for young people from Ukraine.

It is worth emphasizing that our data comes from the project of approved organizational sheets for the 2024/25 school year. The data will be updated after September 30, 2024, because by that time it will be possible to submit an annex to the organizational sheet in the event of a change in employment after September 1. It should be noted that children from other countries have been studying in Polish schools for years. However, we have never had such a large number of foreign students. It is worth emphasizing that "no additional support" means no additional activities not resulting from the provisions of Polish law. This means that each school will still provide an additional 4 hours of Polish language and remedial classes in other subjects for a maximum of 36 months.

The situation we have had since September is truly worrying. Children who have not previously had contact with our education system, which means they do not speak Polish, will be sent to Polish schools. Additionally, children of newly arrived refugees from Ukraine may join them. - Adds Natalia Panchenko, Stand with Ukraine Foundation - I am very worried about the well-being of these children, who have often gone through traumatic experiences and require special care and support. Meanwhile, in Polish schools there are still cases of discrimination on the grounds of nationality or bullying, which can be particularly difficult for these children to bear.

Contact:

Dominik Kuc, dominik.kuc@growspace.pl 518 59 85 85