An influx of Ukrainian refugee children without sufficient state support means that Poland is “heading for an education tsunami”, the head of the country’s largest teachers’ union has warned. He says that up to 50,000 new teachers may be needed and has appealed for salaries to be raised.
Over 85,000 new Ukrainian pupils have so far registered at Polish schools since Russia’s invasion, the education minister, Przemysław Czarnek, announced today. That figure could rise to hundreds of thousands, given that around half of the more than two million people to have crossed from Ukraine into Poland are children.
Even before Russia’s invasion, the Polish education ministry had been putting in place plans to integrate a potential influx of refugee children. These include creating special preparatory classes for students who do not speak Polish.
Yet even though Czarnek admits that such pupils make up the majority of those arriving, only around 10% of new Ukrainian students have been put in preparatory classes. The remainder have joined normal lessons, despite usually not speaking Polish.
“We’re heading for an education tsunami,” Sławomir Broniarz, head of the Polish Teachers’ Union (ZNP), told Radio Zet.
He warned that a lack of guidelines concerning grading Ukrainian pupils, especially those who have joined classes that they cannot fully participate in due to the language barrier, will create chaos at the end of the school year in June.
Broniarz says that higher spending on the education system – including pay raises for teachers, who are now working in more difficult conditions – are necessary, as well as regulations making it easier to employ Ukrainian teachers.
“From the first hours of the attack on Ukraine, teachers have joined in helping refugees: organising collections and accommodation, supporting and teaching child refugees,” said Broniarz at a press conference, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
“We believe that extended responsibilities and duties should be accompanied by an increase in salaries and education spending,” he added.
Broniarz also noted that large numbers of new teachers may be needed. If the government’s upper estimate of 600,000 new children start attending school – which would increase the overall number of pupils by 12-15% – that could necessitate 50,000 new teachers, the union leader told Portal Samorządowy.
Czarnek yesterday noted that his ministry has allocated 180 million zloty for additional hours of psychological and pedagogical classes for both Ukrainian and Polish children, reports PAP. It has also increased maximum classes sizes for the youngest pupils from 25 to 29 to accommodate new Ukrainian children.
In Warsaw – where over 300,000 refugees are being accommodated, increasing the city’s population by 17% – around 10,000 new pupils have joined schools. While the mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski, says that they are “doing absolutely everything to integrate” them, the situation is difficult.
He yesterday visited a Warsaw high school that has welcomed 50 new children from Ukraine. It has hired four Ukrainian-speaking teachers, but the new students are learning Polish quickly, headmaster Andrzej Wyrozębski told TVN24. They are “great young people [and] a pleasure to work with”
Dziś odwiedziłem I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. B. Limanowskiego w Warszawie, które przyjęło już 50 uczniów z Ukrainy. Dziękuję wszystkim nauczycielom i uczniom za to, że tak ciepło przywitaliście nowe koleżanki i nowych kolegów. #StandWithUkraine #SamorządyDlaUkrainy pic.twitter.com/h6BufmMjrK
— Rafał Trzaskowski (@trzaskowski_) March 21, 2022
“We estimate that there are now 90,000 school-age children and adolescents in Warsaw,” said Trzaskowski, quoted by RMF24, and the city may have to “consider the possibility of opening schools after hours or on weekends”.
Yet the problem “is not only about the infrastructure, but about [shortages of] staff”, says deputy major Renata Kaznowska, quoted by Gazeta Wyborcza. “It will be extremely difficult to accommodate such a number of children at schools. We will soon reach our capacities.”
Czarnek has also announced that some Ukrainian students may be able to continue their education remotely at their previous schools back in Ukraine. But Trzaskowski notes that they will need equipment and space to do this, which will often require state assistance.
Main image credit: Cezary Aszkielowicz / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna
