How various adaptation schemes in the education systems of European countries affect the inclusion of refugee children from Ukraine in their educational system.

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-2581955/v1

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How various adaptation schemes in the education systems of European countries affect the inclusion of refugee children from Ukraine in their educational system.

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2581955/v1

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The article compares how the children of Ukrainian refugees are included in the school systems of Poland, Germany, and the UK. The main factors influencing the school adaptation of refugee children are analyzed. We conducted an anonymous survey of schoolchildren's parents. It is concluded that most children went to school in the host countries and continue to study remotely in Ukrainian schools. The general situation with the inclusion of children in educational systems looks optimistic but requires further monitoring.

Sociology

Ukraine

refugees

war

adaptation

children

education

welcome classes

integration

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, millions of Ukrainian refugees, primarily women and children have been forced to flee their country for safety (UNHCR, "Ukraine Refugee Situation", 2022)

The countries of the European community showed extraordinary solidarity, accepting millions of Ukrainians. The European Commission issued a directive ordering all countries to give Ukrainians temporary asylum and provide children with access to education.

As in the case of Syria, research on Ukrainian refugee issues is related to labour migration issues, various economic issues, and the quantitative and qualitative composition of incoming refugees (Kohlenberger, J.,2022, Dumont, J.-Ch., and Lauren, A., 2022). Much less attention is paid to the problems of integrating refugee children into the education system. Only a few years after 2011, the first papers appeared on Syrian children, their psychological adaptation, issues of segregation, and issues of their future (Bloch, A., 2015, Gagil, T abd El., 2022, Taskın, P. & Erdemlı, O. 2018). Regarding children from Ukraine, so far, such studies are only taking their first steps. The literature collected on this issue shows that refugee children from Ukraine are not singled out as a particular group for research. Meanwhile, educating children fleeing the war is more than relevant, if only because after three months spent without school, the test results of schoolchildren fall by 11 percent. Moreover, the younger the students, the more educational opportunities they miss (Donoghue, L., 2022).

In this paper, we will not focus on specific cases for the time being but, for the most part, pay attention to the impact of various approaches to the adaptation of schoolchildren on the effectiveness of their integration into the education system. We will focus on enrolment in the compulsory education system, welcome classes, learning the local language and direct integration into the education system. To conduct the study, we conducted a literature review and an anonymous survey among the parents of children currently in Europe. We want to get the preliminary results of the inclusion of children in the education system, which can later be used as a starting point in monitoring the state of affairs in this area.

With the outbreak of war in Ukraine, it seems exciting to use both the experience gained as a result of the integration and adaptation of the children of Syria and to obtain new unique developments. In addition, it seems very useful for the future to have a clear understanding of the frameworks within which the integration of children into the educational environment of host countries with better or worse cultural and linguistic proximity to the countries of origin of migrants can most effectively occur.

Theoretical Background.

In the theoretical background, we will briefly characterize the factors that influence the adaptation of refugees to understand what parameters will determine the best or worst degree of adaptation and integration of children into the school community. Furthermore, we will describe the educational situation of the children of Syrian refugees to take it as a basis. We will also describe the main characteristics of the educational systems of Poland, Germany, Great Britain and Ukraine to understand their similarities or differences, which can affect the speed and quality of inclusion in the educational system.

Separately, we will say a few words about the socioeconomic portrait of a Ukrainian refugee as a parent, who, in one way or another, can influence the child and affect their inclusion.

The factors that influence school adaptation for refugee children

First, it should be mentioned that and how migrant students, certain common factors affect refugee school adaptation. The typical problems of adaptation are the following: language adaptation (Sawir, E., Marginson, S., Forbes-Mewett, H., Nyland, C., and Ramia, G., 2012), cultural adaptation, domestic adaptation, climate adaptation, and a feeling of longing for a home environment and tight social circle (Alharbi E., Smith A., 2018, Li, RY, and Kaye, M. 1998, Suárez-Orozco, C., Jin, H., & Yeon, H. 2011, Pritchard, RMO, and Skinner, B. 2002). In the case of children who suddenly left their homeland, not only a lack of language proficiency but also a complete lack of proficiency in the host country's language, psychological and physical trauma and economic difficulties can be added (Gagil, T abd El., 2022). The following factors influence the adaptation of adult refugees: the certainty of the legal status, in anticipation of which the respondents showed a higher stress level. The accommodation quality may improve mental health by up to 20%. Regular occupation, such as work or apprenticeship, was associated with less psychological stress. Family and separation from family members have an impact on the psychological state. Psychological symptoms were significantly correlated with less attendance at German language courses, less participation in sports activities, worse orientation in the environment, and more pronounced feelings of lack of support and a feeling of being a stranger (Montgomery, J.R. 1996). The following factors influence the quality of children's adaptation as family cohesion, parental psychological state, friendship with peers, and community support (Bhugra, Dinesh and others (eds), 2021).

Comparison Syrian refugees and refugees from Ukraine.

The integration of Syrian children in the educational institutions of Turkey, Lebanon, Germany, Sweden and Greece is described in a number of publications. There are links between the language barrier, financial situation, initial cultural level, and children's success in education. Crul, M., Lelie, F., Biner, Ö. et al. (2019) describe in detail how various school systems affect the inclusion of Syrian children in the school system. The authors conduct a lengthy study comparing different policies for the inclusion of children in the educational system and a qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of these systems, noting both the low rights to study and educational opportunities in Turkey and Lebanon and the active demand for parents of children to send them to school, as was the case in Greece, Germany, and Sweden. Different approaches to integration into the educational space are also highlighted and considered, both in Sweden, where they try to be flexible concerning language acquisition and early incorporation into regular classes with local children, and the more extended period of welcome classes in other countries described in the study.

In 2012 only 12% of Syrian children went to school in Lebanon (Crul, M., Lelie, F., Biner, Ö. et al., 2019), and by 2016 their number did not exceed 42%, with the smallest number of children covered by education being adolescents aged 15 under 18, of which only 3% studied (UNHCR, 2021). In Turkey, the right to education for the children of Syrian refugees has been guaranteed to children only since 2014. However, many refugees have not been able to use it or even had no idea about the right to education for their children. By 2017, only 50% of school-age children had received an education. The authors emphasize that the right to education is still something other than the real possibility of obtaining it (Asi, Y, 2015, Gagil, T abd El., 2022). Syrian children are the lost generation (Asi, Y, 2018).

Researchers point to uncertainty in the plans of persons who received temporary asylum in Turkey, which significantly worsened the adaptation processes of children in schools (Karaagac D., Bilecen B., Veenstra R., 2022). The main reasons that worsen adaptation are the lack of material support in the host states, work permits, lack of housing, living in camps, and often even the lack of access to water and electricity, which forced parents to send their children to work unofficially (Crul, M., Lelie, F., Biner, Ö. et al. 2019, Şafak-Ayvazoğlu A., Kunuroglu F., Kutlay Yağmur K., 2021].

A significant barrier is a need for knowledge of the host country's language. Even with the right to work, the state of uncertainty and incomprehensible status did not stimulate parents and, as a result, children to learn the language of the host country, in particular Turkish, which made it difficult for children to adapt to school (Karaagac D., Bilecen B., Veenstra R., 2022). Therefore children are not fully included in the education system and even those children who, due to their age, could quickly learn the language.

In the countries of the European Union, all children of school age are required to attend educational institutions. However, the approach to their training was different. Sweden tried not to keep children in welcome classes to avoid segregation (Crul, M., Lelie, F., Biner, Ö. et al., 2019) and practised learning Swedish as a foreign language, as is now happening in Poland. Also, the lack of an early separation in Sweden into a vocational school and an academic one, as in Germany, can be considered a plus, which gave children a chance to learn the language and integrate more fully (Crul, M., Lelie, F., Biner, Ö. et al., 2019).

Socio-demographic profile of Ukrainian parents.

According to the UN (Cerna, L., and McBrien 2022, Dumont, J.-Ch., and Lauren, A., 2022), half of the Ukrainians who have crossed the border since February 24 were children. It should be taken into account that the point is not only that the proportion of Ukrainian refugees with higher education is higher than among other groups of refugees, but also that they are more educated than the population of Ukraine as a whole (Dumont, J.-Ch., and Lauren, A.,2022).

According to the IFO survey in Germany, 71% of respondents have tertiary education, and another 7% have a degree (Albrecht C., Panchenko T., 2022, Panchenko T. (2022)). According to a poll by the Polish Bank ("The living and economic situation of Ukrainian refugees in Poland", 2022), 60% of Polish refugees aged 30 to 44 have a higher education. Travelling to more distant European countries correlated either with the level of education and knowledge of foreign languages or with the presence of a Ukrainian diaspora. Existing evidence suggests that migration from Ukraine to Europe is highly self-selective, the further to the West the Ukrainian refugees moved, the higher their socioeconomic position and the higher the likelihood of their permanent resettlement (Kohlenberger, J, 2022).

Compulsory school education in Ukraine

The system of compulsory school education in Ukraine includes children from 6–7 to 17–18 years old (Education system in Ukraine, 2022, Friedman, O., and Trines, S., 2019). At the age of 6, children go to school, where they spend 11 or 12 years. The concept of the new Ukrainian school involves a 12-year education system with three grades of high school, but it is only being introduced; now, only 5th-grade students study under the twelve-year education program. In elementary school, children study for four years, after which students go through a five-year cycle of secondary school; after the ninth grade, they pass exams on the completion of incomplete secondary education. Most children then move on to grades 10–12, after which they take external independent exams in a test form. Education in Ukrainian universities can be either free at the expense of the state budget or on a contract basis.

Thus, in Ukraine, up to 80% of school graduates receive higher education with a bachelor's degree ((Friedman, O., and Trines, S., 2019)), and the remaining 20 percent choose vocational education or start working.

Although Ukrainian education is not considered one of the leading in the world and has rather severe problems, some Ukrainian universities are included in the world university rankings, and the Ukrainian physics and mathematics school is still considered quite strong. Ukrainian schoolchildren traditionally win medals from international physics, mathematics, and informatics competitions. It should be noted that before the outbreak of hostilities, Ukrainian universities accepted tens of thousands of international students from 154 countries (Friedman, O., and Trines, S., 2019).

Despite the chronic shortage of teachers in schools (Friedman, O., and Trines, S., 2019) and their meager wages, at least in large cities of Ukraine, parents show a desire for their children to receive a quality education, to educate their children in lyceums and gymnasiums, pay for private teachers before the final assessments and in general are pretty often concerned about the quality of their children's education.

Polish education system.

The preschool education system covers children from 3 to 6 years old. The compulsory school age starts at 7. The system of compulsory school education covers eight years. The first four years are elementary school classes. The basics of literacy and the world idea are studied, and concepts of arithmetic and geometry. From grades 5 to 8, school education continues in secondary school, after which students take the so-called eighth-grade exam. According to the exam results, students continue their education for another four years either in special vocational schools, which allow them to receive professional education, or study in lyceums, the successful completion of which gives them the right to enter the university. Studying at the university is free for all citizens of Poland (Bitel, A, 2021).

German education system.

Compulsory schooling in Germany covers children from 6 to 15 years old (Trines, S, 2021). The first four elementary school classes teach all children together, after which there is a division into three school streams. Hauptschule, which gives the opportunity to get a working profession immediately, Realschule, with a specialized secondary education and a gymnasium, upon successful completion of which a student can enter the university. There are also so-called mixed schools. Tertiary education in Germany is free. All refugees arriving in the country are subject to German education law and must attend school (BAMF 2022).

Great Britain Education System

School education is compulsory for children from 5 to 16 years of age (Magaziner, J., 2016). Public school education is free, but there is a developed network of private schools. Children enter primary school at the age of 5; in primary school, they study mathematics, English, history, geography, music, industrial technology, and art. At the age of 11, children are transferred to secondary school; after completing the compulsory education cycle, they can either leave school and start working or continue their education to enter university. Those wishing to enter the university must take two-year A-level courses, where they independently choose specialization subjects. International students who come to the UK begin their education with an A-level. Higher education in the UK is paid; for foreigners, it is more expensive than for its citizens.

Thus, the educational systems in Poland, Germany, Great Britain and Ukraine are similar in terms of the age at which education starts and its structure, which theoretically should facilitate the inclusion of refugee children in national schools.

In this paper, we will compare national institutional arrangements and their impact on the early adaptation of children to the educational system of European countries.

It is reasonable to focus on two large groups of refugees, such as refugees in Poland and Germany, since these countries have received a significant number of refugees and also because they have different approaches to the school adaptation of children in principle. In Germany, this approach is primarily due to the language barrier, and the main task of the adaptation of schoolchildren is to learn the language. At the same time, other problems will come to the fore later. Therefore in Poland, while children were included in the system of education immediately, the main problem is insufficient language knowledge, communication difficulties, and declining academic performance problems.

There is also an additional intermediate group of English-speaking countries, which can be identified as a third group for studying refugee children's adaptation issues due to the language factor. We will also touch on this group in the study.

From October 17 to November 1, an anonymous survey was conducted with a target group of parents of school-age refugee children who received temporary asylum in Germany, Poland, and the UK. The survey was conducted in Ukrainian-speaking groups on social networks such as "Ukrainians in Poland", "Ukrainians in Germany," and "Ukrainians in the UK". The survey was attended by 160 respondents, 61 in Poland, 65 in Germany, 34 in the UK. The questionnaire consisted of 28 multiple-choice questions with the ability to add answer. The first part determined the socio-psychological portrait of the refugee's parents, clarifying his education level and his interest in staying and working in the host country after the end of the war. It also clarified the material condition in connection with the relocation, how to solve housing problems, their current psychological state, knowledge and proficiency in English and the host country's language, and readiness to learn the host country's language.

The second part of the survey concerned children's psychological problems in connection with their relocation and questions about their school adaptation. First of all, parents were asked how concerned they were with the problem of their children's education. The respondents were asked what kind of psychological difficulties their child is experiencing with the forced relocation and what difficulties he has in a new school (difficulties in learning, with peers, deterioration in academic performance), and in what way they help children cope with these difficulties. Also, the questionnaire contains a group of questions about parents' plans for their children continuing to study in Europe and at home and whether their children attend Ukrainian school remotely and whether they will attend it if the war drags on. If there is no opportunity to return home, do they need Ukrainian weekend schools for their children to study the Ukrainian language and the history of Ukraine.

Although the study should be considered indicative due to the small sample size, the characteristics of its results are comparable to systematic surveys conducted by other services.

The vast majority of those who completed the questionnaire (96.3%) were women, 69% had tertiary education, and another 8.9% had an academic degree. This data is consistent with self-selection among refugees (Kohlenberger, J, 2022). Among the parents surveyed, only 12.4 percent indicated that they work in their speciality, while 24% of the respondents indicated that they did not work. Only 28% of the interviewed parents indicated that they had secondary or specialized secondary education. Moreover, among the parents surveyed in Germany, only 16.7 percent indicated that they had secondary or vocational education. Among the parents surveyed in the UK, 18.2 percent of those surveyed did not have a higher education.

The psychological adaptation of children in schools is influenced by the certainty of their parents' plans. First of all, it should be emphasized that during the fighting, men of military age are not allowed to leave the country unless certain conditions are met, such as illness or three children in the family. Hence, most of those who went abroad and accepted temporary asylum status are single mothers with children (Dumont, J.-Ch., and Lauren, A., 2022). According to the survey, only 13.7% of respondents expressed a specific desire to stay in the host country. Another 19.9% said they would rather stay, and 13 and 15% each expressed their readiness to stay if their husband comes to them or if they find a job. Respondents also indicated that they consider the issue of returning home in the context of the end of the war, the availability of a home to return to, and other related circumstances.

39.1% of respondents expressed a definite intention to return home as soon as the war ended, which correlates well with the survey (Panchenko T. 2022), where 46% want to return home.

Only 27.3% of the parents surveyed by the ninth month after the hostilities outbreak said their child had already adapted to the new country. At the same time, only 9.9 percent of the parents indicated the calm, stable condition of their own.

58.4% of respondents said that their child misses their usual social circle, more than 40% miss their second parent, many say that children in a new country have no friends due to the language barrier, some respondents noted that their child is bored through the city and the ruined house.

As for school-wide difficulties, by the end of the eighth month after the outbreak of hostilities, a significant number of respondents (37.3%) stated that they did not see significant difficulties in school for their child.

The rest of the parents pointed out specific difficulties, one way or another, related to the education system in the host country. We will mention this in the context of the countries that have accepted refugees.

Immediate Enrolment in Poland classes.

The first countries that should be considered as an example of the adaptation of Ukrainian children are Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. As of October 1, 2024, about 1.5 million Ukrainians are permanently in Poland with temporary protection status. At the same time, about 200 thousand Ukrainian children attend Polish schools (Ptak, A., 2022).

The linguistic proximity and similarity of the Slavic languages served as a sufficient basis for the immediate enrolment of Ukrainians in classes, bypassing the adaptation semesters and welcome classes. The method of solving the problem also led to difficulties in solving it. So, let us take a closer look at the adaptation of Ukrainian children to Polish schools.

Since compulsory schooling in Poland starts at seven and in Ukraine at 6, many Ukrainian schoolchildren were offered to continue their education one grade lower (29% from surveyed). This fact seems reasonable for high school students, who this year had to take the eighth-grade exam, according to the results of which the student is determined further with the vector of his further education. Also, during the first months after entering the country, the Ministry of Education of Poland guaranteed Ukrainian children an additional six academic hours per week to study the Polish language to accelerate their adaptation to the educational process and avoid segregation. At the same time, Ukrainian children studying in Polish classes were evaluated equally with Polish children (Ptak A., 2022).

Speaking about difficulties in schools, the first and foremost part is psychological adaptation. For the first few days after arrival, many children felt homesick and isolated from their everyday life; many faced a significant deterioration in living conditions, the loss of their usual living conditions, a lack of a place to study, and often a separate space for living (Ptak, A., 2022). As for material maintenance, the Republic of Poland offered Ukrainians a one-time greeting payment. Also, on par with Polish children, Ukrainian children were entitled to a child allowance. In addition, during the first month 120 days stay of Ukrainians who received the status of temporary protection in Poland, the Poles who received Ukrainians, the state compensated the cost of their maintenance. In humanitarian centres, getting food, hygiene items, and clothes for free was possible. Many Ukrainians lived for the first months in hostels, or Polish families hosted them. Ukrainian refugees immediately received the right to work and medical care. At the time of the survey, 87.1% said they rent or purchase (3.2%) housing and pay for it themselves, 8.1% live with friends, and only 4.8% confirmed that the state pays for housing.

For their part, the first months Polish schools gave children everything they needed for their studies, Ukrainians wrote a lot about this on social networks.

From the school year beginning, the textbook and supplies purchase of textbooks was carried out at the expense of parents with the possibility of receiving a one-time allowance by the beginning of the school year. At first glance, the picture looked quite positive; however, the children faced the following difficulties. The first one is overload. In addition to compulsory lessons, Ukrainian children, during the first months after their arrival, attend additional Polish lessons, which are held not instead of some educational components but outside of school hours. In addition, since mid-March, Ukrainian schools have announced the resumption of the educational process in a remote format. Not understanding how long they would have to stay in Poland, the parents continued to teach their children in Ukrainian schools as much as the schools themselves were able to. According to the survey, this way chose 58% of respondents. In addition, concerning Polish schools, some parents drew attention to a significant difference in the curricula of the natural sciences block, such, according to the survey, was 10.6%. Obvious difficulties at the first stage were caused by subjects with a considerable language load, such as history or literature. Nevertheless, it can be confidently stated that the Polish education system successfully withstood the load associated with the arrival of 200,000 students in the country at the first stage.

According to the Polish Ministry of Education, by the new academic year, the state was ready to accept about 300,000 Ukrainian children. However, their actual number was less than expected (Goncharova, K., 2022, Kostenko, V, 2022). This state of affairs is associated primarily with the fact that the education of children in Polish schools for Ukrainians in Poland with the status of temporary protection is not mandatory, provided that they attend Ukrainian schools remotely. Many Ukrainian parents took advantage of this permission and taught their children in Ukrainian schools. Some Ukrainians returned home, especially to the western regions, which were not subjected to such destruction as the eastern ones. We traced what kind of problems the children of Polish refugees face. First of all, the half of the children present with symptoms of depression. It is not easy for children from Ukraine who ended up in Polish schools to integrate into the new education system. The obstacle is not only the language barrier but also psychological trauma after the stress, cultural differences, and other barriers (Scorik, Yu, 2022). Children note not only the difficulties of general psychological adaptation but also the difficulties associated with the fact that they learn and are evaluated together with children born and raised in this country, regardless of their objective problems and difficulties (Skorik, Yu, 2022). 32.8% of the parents surveyed complain about the deterioration in academic performance, while only 19.3% of all the parents surveyed complain about the deterioration in academic performance. 10.6% of all respondents complained about the feeling of not taking into account that the child is a refugee. However, in Polish schools, there were slightly more of them, 13.1%, which is generally natural since children do not study in welcome classes but with Polish children.

Only 12.9% of the interviewed parents in Poland said that their children have adapted and the child is calm and cheerful. The rest complained that the child misses the usual circle of friends, the second of the parents, that there are not enough familiar trifles, friends, and the deterioration of the family's financial condition.

Researchers also noticed an increased burden on the education system (Ptak, A., 2022). An increase in the number of children by 10% is observed in 70% of schools; however, in large cities, the increase in Ukrainian children's number in the class is up to 30–35% of the total number of children. There are about 6% of such schools in Poland.

In order to unload the education system, Ukrainian classes are being opened, and teachers who speak Polish and Ukrainian are recruited. The Ukrainian school "Invincible Ukraine" can be singled out separately among these schools. However, it can be noted that although the conditions for hiring Ukrainian teachers in Poland have been simplified, their number still needs to be increased (Goncharova, K., 2022). The education system is only beginning to adapt to the ongoing challenges.

At the same time, a new academic year started in Ukraine in September, the first academic year the country is forced to start in the conditions of war. Training is conducted only remotely in hard-hit regions. Some regions are under occupation, so the organization of distance learning there generally raises more questions than it has answers. Also, in connection with the threat of terrorist attacks on humanitarian facilities, including schools, the Ministry of Education decided to organize mixed-mode education in all regions of the country.

A significant number of respondents still want their children to continue studying in Ukrainian schools at the same time as studying in Polish classes. Ukrainian parents are in no hurry to expel their children from Ukrainian schools, due to the uncertainty of their status; at the time of the survey there were 58% of them, and 41% declared their intention to continue to study remotely in Ukraine in the future, and more 24.6 percent are undecided.

The inability to accurately predict when it will be possible to return home, or at least to relatively safe corners of the country, forces people to preserve their children's future peculiarly, preserving their place in Ukrainian schools. Some disciplines, with insufficient knowledge of the Polish language, can be better studied in their native language, so many parents, considering this training a competitive advantage for their children's future, strive to keep it. Such preservation of a place in schools is problematic for many factors, primarily because the Polish government gives only one opportunity to choose, either to study in a Polish school or remotely in a Ukrainian one. As soon as parents have a full opportunity to finally choose whether they stay in the host country or return home, parents, in one way or another, contribute to the integration of children in schools. In this case, since only 29% of the respondents from Poland stated a strong desire to return home, and only 8.1% said they want to stay in uncertainty, parents do not entirely abandon Ukrainian schools, at least in the format of external study or home education.

According to the interviewed parents, only a minority remain enthusiastic about such a double workload, especially in sufficient school work and the need to attend additional Polish language lessons outside school hours. Parents complain about the overload of children; 55.5% of respondents indicated fatigue associated with the need to study in two schools at once simultaneously—the loss of motivation to continue studying at a Ukrainian school − 27%. Single answers of respondents indicated a lack of understanding by Ukrainian school teachers of the objective difficulties of the child, who is forced to carry a double load, such 11.7%, less often respondents indicate that Ukrainian teachers do not care about children abroad, do not check homework, which finally demotivates children. The Ukrainian education system needs to take a flexible approach to children studying online from other countries and set more flexible deadlines for control works, take a more flexible approach to assess the educational achievements of children with the possibility of re-crediting some grades from foreign schools and others—methods of work in conditions of enormous load and non-standard situation.

Summing up the above, at the early stage of adaptation of Ukrainian schoolchildren, the following patterns can be distinguished:

The relative ease in learning the Polish language for Ukrainian children is that they feel able to integrate into the education system quickly. However, at the same time, this ease still seems quite deceptive. In high school, mastering particular disciplines requires mastering terminology, which is different from Ukrainian, and significantly complicates understanding the material in the classroom. 11.2% of respondents complain about the lack of understanding of the material due to differences in curricula, 10.6% complain that teachers do not take into account that the child is a refugee, and 46% indicate that the main problem is not knowing the local language. Nevertheless, a significant problem seems to be in integrating children into the school community; their specific isolation from the school community, the absence of Ukrainian children in the class is a problem for 12.4% of the respondents, and the unfriendly attitude of classmates worries 20%. Even 11.6% of the respondents complain about the teachers' unfriendly attitude. In general, ease of language acquisition is a favourable prognostic factor; however, it requires further observation and study.
Deterioration of living conditions. The search for housing, the lack of a permanent job, moving from place to place, and especially the uncertainty of life plans worsen the psychological state of parents and, as a result, the state of children and their academic performance.
Academic overload can create additional stress; 10% of respondents indicated it. However, it can be assumed that more specific plans for parents' future will reduce students' overall stress and workload.
The noticeable interest of parents in learning Polish as a foreign language, both for themselves and their children (Ukrainian refugees highly motivated to learn Polish, 2022). Despite additional Polish language lessons in schools, 30% of parents indicated that their children have a tutor or additional Polish language courses. Only 5% of parents indicated that they still do not know Polish.

Welcome classes in Germany

The second large group of countries accepting Ukrainian refugees' children are countries where the language is too different from the Slavic group. Such countries are Germany, where as of September 1, about a million Ukrainians arrived, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, and others. Without loss of generality, we may confine ourselves to considering the problems of children's adaptation in Germany. In all the mentioned countries, Ukrainian children are guaranteed the right to continue their education and learn a foreign language in the chosen region (Battke B., 2022).

We will also briefly mention the material support for Ukrainian refugees in Germany. Ukrainian refugees seeking protection in Germany receive material support for themselves and their children if they have no means of subsistence, assistance in paying rent for an apartment and utilities, and insurance is paid. Ukrainians who have received temporary asylum are guaranteed the right to work and are also given the opportunity to attend integration courses with the study of the German language (BAMF, 2022). According to the survey, 60% of respondents indicated that they rent housing and the state pays for it, and only 18.4% indicated that they rent housing but pay for it themselves. At the same time, 65.6% of the respondents indicated that their financial situation has not worsened due to the move, although they do not feel stability. 33% of respondents dream of returning home, and the rest indicate that their desire depends on such factors as the availability of work, the arrival of a partner, and the state of housing in their homeland.

The critical problem of children in this group is quite apparent: the lack of language knowledge (Nazarenko, Yu., 2022). One of the main points mentioned here is that Germany is quite prepared for the influx of refugees after their massive arrival from Syria in 2015 year. Although phenomenologically, the approaches still seem to be different, the methodology for solving the problem still seems to be well-established.

In the first days after the start of the war, there was one big problem in the context of Ukrainian children: how many children there would be in the end and how they would be distributed throughout the country (Romanova, A., 2022). In practice, this can be difficult at the stage of school enrolment because, due to the lack of Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking teachers who know German, there are few places in schools for Ukrainians, and places in the school can be expected for some time. In addition, since more than a million people have arrived in Germany since the beginning of the war, Ukrainian families often have to live in camps and dormitories; months can pass before receiving separate housing; all this time, children also remain without schooling, but in this case, it is all, but it is about months, but not at all about missed years. An absolute phenomenon, in this case, is the possibility of continuing education in Ukraine in a distance format, which in general, can be considered as an intermediate solution. However, in general, such a solution does not meet the interests of the child since it does not solve the issue of physical activity and socialization, as well as does not accelerate the acquisition of the local language.

What are the welcome classes in Germany? During the first and sometimes the second year of study, until the children reach the average level of language proficiency, the children study in the so-called welcome classes. The children are gradually transferred to regular classes as they learn the language. Such a solution is only possible in children's ignorance of the national language. The main significant disadvantage, in this case, is children's loss of the academic year in education. However, in parallel, in this case, the lack of evaluation of children's academic performance in such classes is a plus. Their primary task is simply a comfortable entry into the team and a new environment, recognition of a new school, and developing vocabulary and materials for further education. According to open sources, every second teacher in Germany has children and teenagers from Ukraine. Three-quarters of the teachers surveyed (78%) reported that they integrate refugee children into regular classes, at least in part, and teach them together with students from Germany (Bosch Stiftung, R, 2022). Forty-nine percent of the respondents stated that their school needs suitable approaches to accommodate children with little or no knowledge of the German language. Among schools that are currently preparing to accept more students from Ukraine (58%), the focus is on providing a place (43%) and finding teachers of German as a second language (40%).

The same system is adopted in schools in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland, with slight regional differences.

In Belgium and the Netherlands, there is information about the creation of Ukrainian classes with the Ukrainian education system, but the feedback from parents could be more consistent.

In the context of the problems associated with the education of Ukrainian children in German schools, it should be noted that parents primarily point to the child's insufficient knowledge of the German language (50%), express concern that the child will lose an academic year while in the welcome class in Germany. 42% of respondents are afraid that the war will prevent their child from realizing his abilities, and almost 36% of respondents are afraid that the child will suffer some academic discipline due to insufficient language knowledge. Almost 11% of the respondents admit that they consider the current academic year lost. 28.1% of the respondents are optimistic about the issue of their child's education. Moreover, only 4.6 percent said that they are indifferent to the state of their children's studies; they consider survival as the main problem.

Concerning the difficulties associated with studying in German schools, 25% of respondents indicate that their child has no friends, 12.5% note deterioration in academic performance, about 5% complain about the distance that the child has to overcome to school and the lack of consideration for what their child is a refugee.

Almost 30% of the respondents indicated that their child has adapted to school life in Germany, and they do not see significant difficulties.

What do parents do to help their children not lose the school year? It should be noted that among the children who study in German schools, 71% of children are simultaneously studying remotely in Ukrainian schools. As in the case of Poland, parents choose such a vector of education for their child both in order not to lose an academic year and because of the uncertainty of their position in Germany. In addition, one in five indicated that their child is engaged with a tutor or has German language courses. Furthermore, 17 percent add that their child has a tutor in some subjects. However, 58% of respondents complained that their children were tired of combining Ukrainian and German schools. In comparison, 14% of respondents point to the loss of motivation for their children to attend Ukrainian school. Moreover, every fifth parent said everything is in order, and there are no problems with online studying at a Ukrainian school.

The academic difference also requires further study, but in general, the significant difficulties at the early stage seem to be related to language problems rather than the difference in mastering the training modules. Problems with academic adaptation will arise in the humanities rather than in the natural sciences since there is an insufficient vocabulary.

Great Britain

Some intermediate groups can be considered a group of countries with English-speaking training. It was singled out this group of countries since, in Ukrainian schools, English is studied from the first grade, and in large cities, by the middle of schooling, children could be pretty fluent in it. This level of knowledge of English makes it possible to attend classes immediately. The latest statistics provide information about ten thousand Ukrainian children who have applied to study in British schools. However, there needs to be more information about how Ukrainian children are taught in British schools.

As for the reception of Ukrainians in the UK, arriving in Britain requires a visa; it is opened under the "Home for Ukraine" program to help Ukrainians. Some non-governmental organizations help to contact Ukrainians seeking temporary protection in Britain and people ready to help and provide them with housing for at least six months. As for the UK, the specifics of the self-selection of asylum seekers are interesting here. Not only did the vast majority of respondents have higher education, but 72.4% of the parents surveyed indicated a confident knowledge of the English language, which indicates the choice of the host country based on the language principle. In support of the thesis about the program of assistance to Ukrainians in Britain, only 11.8% of respondents said that they rent housing and pay for it on their own, 23.5% of respondents said that the state pays for housing, and 64.7%, in turn, indicated that that live in the family of the sponsor. Only 23.5% of respondents from the UK indicated that they do not work, another 17.6% indicated that they are studying the language, 5.9% of respondents work in their speciality, 20.6% work remotely in Ukraine, and 32.4% of respondents stated that they are working, but their work does not correspond to their specialty.

In general, 57% of the parents surveyed are optimistic about their children's education in the UK Ukrainian parents in Britain are not too worried about the decline in academic performance; only 11.7 percent of respondents indicated this, and the same number point to the difference in curricula. 44% of the interviewed parents complained about the insufficient knowledge of English by their children.

Therefore 29.6% of parents try to help their child, helping, first of all, in learning the language, agreeing with tutors on additional classes with English tutors. 11.1% of the parents surveyed indicated private lessons in other subjects.

In general, the picture of Ukrainians who are now studying in Britain requires observation; the initial knowledge of the language facilitates and speeds up the school adaptation process, as shown by the survey results.

The paper describes the factors influencing the adaptation processes of refugee children in the educational systems of various countries. The experience of refugee children from Syria are taken as a basis, as well as the general principles of the adaptation processes of migrants. Among the factors that have the most significant influence on the process of children's adaptation, one can single out the economic factor, the factor of the uncertainty of the situation in a given country, the psychological state of the parents, the psychological and physical trauma experienced, the speed of learning the local language, as well as the favourable environment at school. European countries and the United Kingdom provide significant economic support to persons seeking temporary protection, immediately giving them the right to work, medical care, helping with housing. The support is so strong that two-thirds of those polled, eight months after the outbreak of the war said that at the moment, although they do not feel stable, their material condition at least has not become worse. In the future, this should have a positive impact on the psychological and economic adaptation of the parents of refugee children and, as a result, their children.

The EU countries and the UK are following the directive to ensure Ukrainian children have the right to continue their education. According to the survey, in the ninth month of hostilities, only 7.4 percent of children did not go to local schools, of which only 3% due to a lack of places in schools; the rest continue to study in Ukrainian schools remotely.

The main challenges facing education systems in host countries are uncertainty about the number of children who will be enrolled in local schools, parental plans for the future, migration flows to various countries and refugees returning home as hostilities cease in some regions, shortages of teachers, familiar with the methodology of teaching the national language as a foreign language.

The main problems that children themselves face are difficulties in psychological adaptation (only one in four of the respondents said that their child is calm and cheerful, while only one in ten of the parents indicated their general calm state), homesickness, or a second parent, grandparents (41%), decrease in the general financial situation of the family and worsening living conditions (27.6%), difficulties in finding new friends and establishing new social ties (30%), the academic difference in some academic disciplines and as a result decrease in academic performance (19.3%), or fear of losing the academic year due to a language problem (34.4%). Since European countries show sufficient flexibility in their approach to Ukrainian schoolchildren and students, the issue of worsening career or academic prospects, unlike Syrian children, is not on the agenda. Nevertheless, it requires long-term monitoring. Parents themselves are generally concerned about the state of their children's education; only 5.7 percent of parents said that they are indifferent to the state of their child's education, and they are now more concerned about issues of survival. 35% of respondents expressed concern that the war will prevent their child from realizing his natural abilities. Only 38.8% of respondents are optimistic about the education of a child in European countries; the rest of the parents are worried that the school career of their children will suffer due to the language barrier − 35.7% of respondents that some disciplines in a foreign school will be taught weaker than in Ukrainian − 26.7% of respondents.

Despite their psychological difficulties, which are indicated by the overwhelming number of respondents, a significant part of parents tend to support their child in various available ways, trying to distract the child with something pleasant (50.2%), not burdening them with household chores (35.5% of respondents). In addition, 41.9% of parents noted that their children have a tutor in some subjects or the language of the country where they are now.

The most significant difficulties of adaptation at this stage are experienced by children in Poland since they are completely integrated into the educational space, but primarily did not know Polish. Among these children, there are more frequent complaints not only about a lack of knowledge of the local language but also about discrimination by peers, deterioration in academic performance, difficulties associated with the assimilation of academic disciplines, and other purely educational problems. These complaints, however, are by no means widespread. On the other hand, parents of schoolchildren in the UK are the most optimistic regarding their children's school adaptation. This fact should be related to their children's initial English knowledge, which facilitates adaptation. Continuing education remotely in Ukraine is associated with the uncertainty of the status of temporary protection in host countries and is considered by parents as insurance for school performance; however, the number of parents who continue to insist that their child study at the same time in two schools will decrease over time. That would significantly improve their success later, reduce overload and general anxiety, and promote more favourable integration processes. As for Germany, welcome classes are the only possible option, especially since Ukrainian children had no obstacles to studying in gymnasiums. However, it seems the best thing is not to delay the integration processes for too long to avoid segregation and the loss of an academic year. Clear criteria for the possibility of transferring to regular classes should be developed, as well as possibly, some kind of flexible system of interaction with Ukrainian schools that best meets the interests of children.

The possibility to continue studying remotely in Ukraine is a somehow unique issue, filling in the gaps associated with a lack of understanding of the educational material in the host countries, as well as allowing studying the native language and history of Ukraine, thus continuing the connection with the Motherland.

Herewith the IPN ethics committee confirms that we have examined your application regarding your project “Studie im Rahmen des Projekts Schulkinder in Europäischen Ländern / Study within the framework of the project Students in European countries“ (No. 2023_09_CH). The following decision has been reached:

The project has been thoroughly examined and is ethically uncritical.

The authors declare no competing interests.

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How various adaptation schemes in the education systems of European countries affect the inclusion of refugee children from Ukraine in their educational system.

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Abstract

Introduction

The factors that influence school adaptation for refugee children

Compulsory school education in Ukraine

Great Britain Education System

Research Methodology

Discussion

Welcome classes in Germany

Great Britain

Conclusions

Declarations

References

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