There are currently almost a million displaced Ukranians living in Poland—38% of which are children—but, as of 2023, over half of these children were not enrolled in the national school system. While Poland began allowing Ukrainian refugee children to attend public schools soon after the refugee crisis began in 2022, most of them initially continued to learn online. By May 2022, Polish schools had admitted around 200,000 of an estimated 700,000 Ukrainian school-age children in Poland. Today, as a result of a recent law making school attendance mandatory for displaced Ukrainian children in Poland, there are now increasing numbers of them within the Polish education system. 

Despite the change in the law, the number of displaced Ukrainian children enrolled in Polish schools was still lower than what the Polish government expected, and the question of why displaced students do not participate in the Polish education system, or why do they leave it in favor of remote learning, still remains. Through my role at Teach for Poland, I have the privilege of speaking on a daily basis with Ukrainian parents and students, who tell me they've opted for remote education for various reasons such as the following:

• Families may consider their stay in Poland as temporary due to uncertainty over whether they will remain in Poland, move further west, or return to Ukraine.
• Older pupils, particularly those in their final years of school, are willing to finish school within the Ukrainian system, which lasts 11 years compared to 12 years in Poland, enabling them to proceed to higher education faster.
• Some families are concerned about the challenges of meeting unfamiliar academic standards, such as the Polish matura exams, which are a key step toward higher education in Poland.
• Differences in educational systems and disruptions caused by COVID and the war have created learning gaps for many students, making the transition to a new curriculum especially challenging.
• Students with different learning abilities often remain unidentified due to a lack of psychological support in their native language, especially in smaller Polish towns.
• Some students and families have reported experiencing challenges in adapting to new school environments, including feeling excluded or misunderstood.

I’ve seen how these reasons play out in different ways for different students and know that the complexity of adapting to a new school system, culture, and country can result in a non-linear journey for displaced students who therefore need additional support from people who understand both the context of their background and the various options open to them. For example, I think about Ihor, a 16-year-old boy, who is currently in his second school year in Poland. This year, he attempted to transfer to a more renowned school but struggled with the curriculum and returned to the local school he had previously attended after a month. He has decided to finish this year simultaneously through distance learning at a Ukrainian school as well as in person in his local school and plans to continue his studies in a Polish high school.  

According to the Centre for Economic Strategy, the number of displaced Ukrainians planning to return to Ukraine decreased twice in 2024 compared to 2022 and is expected to continue declining over time. This trend underscores the importance of systematic and sustainable efforts to support students in their educational journey and help them thrive in Poland, whether their stay is temporary or more permanent. Of course, there are systemic administrative solutions (like increasing resources and opportunities to learn Polish as foreign language, hiring intercultural teaching assistants, adapting or creating alternate final exams, etc.), but they are still not enough on the level of schools or local communities and this gap is where the role of NGOs is crucial. 

I am so proud that Teach for Poland is committed to developing solutions and that I am able to work on an intervention to help bridge this gap—a six-month support program called “In Your Own Language” for educators working in multicultural classrooms. Since 2022, NGOs like Teach For Poland have hired Intercultural Assistants to work in public schools as part of the emergency response to the arrival of displaced Ukrainian students. However, because the position of Intercultural Assistant was not officially regulated, they were not given adequate support and training. Through our program we have supported educators in various positions in schools (teachers, psychologists, assistant teachers, after-school teachers) and from across all regions in Poland, and a mix of those both with and those without migration lived experience.

Having spent the past 10 years focusing on migrant education in Poland, I leave you the following main learnings to consider:

• The role of a multicultural assistant still requires full formalization so that they receive formal training, support, and accreditation, and there's a clear system for students or schools being able to call upon them.
• Assimilation vs. integration: One consequence of the increased presence of Ukrainian students in Polish schools is the lack of multicultural considerations in schools. There is a tendency to focus on assimilation rather than integration in schools. Even teachers with migration experience in our program have reflected on their acculturation strategies and recognized that they sometimes imposed this assimilation approach on their pupils. Assimilation often leads to a loss of identity, which can result in future social isolation, difficulties in building relationships, lower self-esteem, and limitations in realizing one's potential. Integration, rather than assimilation, allows students to both participate fully in their new environment and maintain their cultural identity. 
• Our participants’ experiences working with trauma-affected pupils highlights the need for further development of psychological support tools for displaced children, especially in smaller towns in Poland. While some displaced children may experience trauma-related challenges, many need support with cultural transitions or educational adjustments. One example is the story of Olena, a preschool student who was referred to a psychologist because she appeared very weak. The issue, however, was not related to trauma, but rather cultural differences—she was not used to eating sandwiches instead of cereal for breakfast. So leaving her without a meal in the morning was making her feel weak and fatigued.
• Teachers need more training on how to prevent discrimination and also how to respond when they witness instances of discrimination. Additionally, schools also need sensitization and awareness raising for educators to prevent them from unconsciously or passively falling into discriminatory habits. We have seen situations when school leadership don't see the need for integration efforts made by our participants and so it’s important to build wider awareness among all educators.
• It is crucial for integration efforts to remain inclusive and support students from all marginalized backgrounds, ensuring that no group is overlooked in the process. While there is a pressing current need with the high numbers of displaced Ukrainians, it’s important for integration efforts to support all students from marginalised backgrounds and we want to avoid situations such as intercultural assistants who can work with Ukrainian children, but not Russian students, or a school that will accept Ukrainian children but say no to a Roma child.
• Self-care and wellbeing training, for the educators to support themselves as well as their students, is one of the most common needs identified by educators, especially in intercultural classes, to help them manage the vicarious or secondary trauma that teachers experience when working with recently displaced children.

Displaced individuals are powerful drivers for development in both their origin and destination countries, as workers, students, entrepreneurs, family members, artists, and much more. It’s time to actively engage youth and teachers with experience of displacement and in contributing to the communities where they live. At the same time, we must remain mindful of the additional needs and challenges those with these identities face and continue to find ways to support them to leverage their own leadership.