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251
Polish Educational System Response Towards
Immigrant Children’s Presence at Public Schools
KATARZYNA GMAJ1
ORCID: 0000-0001-6860-1927
Lazarski University
Since 2001, when the Ministry of Education started to collect data on foreigners attending Polish
public primary and secondary schools, their number has increased by tenfold, reaching 42 000 in the
school year 2019/2020. The article demonstrates how the Polish educational system has responded
to immigrant children’s presence. First, it presents instruments targeted at children with migration
experience, which Polish authorities have over the years implemented into law regulating schooling.
The second part of the article provides an overview of research on the situation of children with
migrant experience learning in public schools. The conclusion is not optimistic: Poland did not have
and still does not have a strategic vision of national educational policy encompassing such pupils.
Key words: integration, migrant children, educational system
Introduction
Access to education for children with migration experience is crucial. On the one
hand, the educational system can reinforce the existing social order (Bourdieu 1970).
-
ing migrant adaptation to destination countries’ realities (Portes and Zou 1993).
The base for this article is provided by desk research, consisting of scholarly litera-
educational system has responded to immigrant children’s presence during the last
two decades since the Ministry of Education started to collect data.
1 Contact:
Studia
Migracyjne – Przegląd Polonijny,
Migration Studies– Review ofPolish Diaspora
nr 4 (182)/2021, http://www.ejournals.eu/Studia-Migracyjne/
DOI: 10.4467/25444972SMPP.21.062.14815
Polish Educational System Response Towards Immigrant Children’s Presence at Public Schools
252
An overview of the literature on the integration of students with migration ex-
perience shows that research has concentrated mainly on social and legal challenges
stemming from the sudden cultural diversity and the implementation of EU directives
-
-
-
paniuk 2017, Zalewska 2017). Immigrants from the former Soviet Union countries
children returning to Poland after years spent abroad has not escaped consideration
Educational system responses towards immigrant
children’s presence
In the 1990s, there were practically no non-Polish citizens in public primary and sec-
ondary schools. The Ministry of Education ordered data on foreigners in 2001 for
-
ality. Since the school year 2007/2008, the System of Educational Information (Sys-
-
-
al Education data). Between 2015 and 2019, their number increased rapidly from
9,944 to 41,724. As a result, in 2019, non-Polish students learnt in approximate-
2
-
uation shaped the structure of students without Polish citizenship. On 30 Septem-
ber 2019, almost thirty thousand eight hundred of them were Ukrainian nationals.
In other words, they constituted nearly 75% of all foreigners learning in public pri-
2
the school years 2017/2018-2019/2020
253
have developed gradually. Firstly, in 20013 supplementary classes of Polish language
for non-Polish citizens were introduced. In 2010 this right embraced Polish citizens
(children of Polish returned migrants) as well
4
. What is more, to offset the differences
classes5. To organise these classes, headteachers must apply to the local authorities
that run a particular educational institution. It is noteworthy that funds allocated
for these activities depend on the local councils’ decision. In short, one can state that
the solutions described above have replaced unpaid efforts undertaken by devoted
teachers.
In 2010, legislators brought in the next innovation — a child whose skills in the
the child’s mother tongue. The school headteacher employs such an aide for no lon-
ger than twelve months. The already existing Roma assistant inspired this solution6.
A person performing this function does not have to be a teacher or a pedagogue.
Intriguingly, such assistants were present in schools already before this regulation
came into force. Their presence was the result of cooperation between particular
-
ciency in Polish to follow mainstream teaching (2017)7. To organise such a unit, the
-
tion meets with a positive response, the headteacher appoints a team (two teachers
The unit should work following the core curriculum of general education. However,
proper language skills in many cases did not bring positive results. The support in
the form of additional Polish language classes and compensatory classes from differ-
3
4
additional Polish language classes. It resulted in under or overestimated subsidies received by these public
schools (15 out of 24 audited institutions). It also impedes estimation of the actual number of students
5
6 An amendment has introduced the teacher's assistant to the School Education Act of 7 September
1991 (Article 94a paragraph 4a). Due to changes in legal acts, currently, the right to having a teacher's
assistant is pointed in Article 165 of the Law on School Education of 14 December 2016. The same article
and Polish citizens).
7
Polish Educational System Response Towards Immigrant Children’s Presence at Public Schools
254
teenagers. Preliminary units appear to suit their condition best.
Implementation of preliminary units indicates a partial departure from the still
dominating education model characterised by complete integration into mainstream
education right from the start. This newly employed form is still rare in Poland.
Although it is not a rule, it is offered to relatively older pupils (higher primary and
case of younger kids, Polish supplementary classes as a second language might be
language of instruction may delay migrant children’s educational progress in other
peers hinders integration.
The main limitation of the instruments described above consists of the lack of
automaticity. They are not put into operation simultaneously with a child’s arrival at
even more noteworthy is that they need goodwill from the local council and authori-
means that parents/guardians or students (when older than 18) should express the
need for such assistance. In other words, they need to be aware of the instruments
available to them. Importantly, participation in such classes is not obligatory. The most
fundamental and unmet need refers to teaching materials used daily when Polish
8
admission. If one cannot present any documents, entry depends on the guardians’
declaration and the interview assessing students’ skills and knowledge. Territorial
not the child’s parents or guardians’ legal status governs this issue. It means that
even irregular migrants’ children have the right to study in public schools for free.
It is noteworthy that every child between the ages of 7 and 18 must attend school.
At present, issues related to foreign children, regarding their admission to school
and forms of support in their educational endeavours, are regulated by the Law on
-
tional Education of 23 August 2017. Starting from 2009, a universal constitutional
right to education9 has embraced immigrants regardless of their citizenship or legal
8
9 Constitution of the Republic of Poland, Article 70 paragraph 1 and 2.
255
status of stay10. Therefore, there are no obstacles to providing education to refugee
and immigrant children from a legal perspective.
Moreover, national regulations allow recognising a foreign child as a pupil with
and organising various psychological and pedagogical assistance in public preschools,
schools and other educational institutions. Children with migration experience can
have psychological and pedagogical help at school. The same refers to other forms
of therapeutic activities, compensatory and logopaedics classes, physiotherapy, etc.
-
chological and pedagogical assistance to children with a migratory experience. They
should do this even without an opinion from the psychological and pedagogical
counselling centre. However, they do not do it or do not have the necessary skills to
Research on the education of children
with migration experience
Research on foreigners in Polish schools started when their presence was scarce.
A study conducted in the 1900s shows teachers’ declarations according to which
most Polish peers accept pupils of different nationalities and races. However, only
a few teachers provided examples of activities undertaken by their school to shape the
-
could be misleading. Teachers are somewhat reluctant to express openly intolerant
attitudes or recall facts indicating a lack of tolerance in their schools, since it nega-
tively affects their workplace and reputation. In studies on the attitudes presented
by Polish peers towards children originating from the former USSR, the authors con-
cluded that the tolerance demonstrated by teachers and headteachers often took the
form of ignoring students’ origin. They also observed a division between the “bet-
ter” and “worse” parts of the world among Polish pupils. Western peers were more
often met with positive deference than Ukrainians, Belarusians, Mongols or black
people of different nationalities.
Chechen pupils’ parents mentioned cases of tensions and intolerance experi-
The policy
of access to education for particularly vulnerable children in refugee centres and
detention centres resulted in indirect and direct discrimination of migrant children.
Polish authorities poorly recognised and addressed their particular problems, even
10 An amendment of the Act on the Education System exceeded the right to free of charge education
for all foreigners till 18 years or till completing a secondary school.
Polish Educational System Response Towards Immigrant Children’s Presence at Public Schools
256
migrants are not free from discrimination in school due to their migration experiences.
Those living in smaller localities and those whose parents are less able to react against
point, one can recall results that unfortunately are not representative in a statistical
identifying discrimination or violence in educational contexts is missing. In particular,
the perspective of pupils/students directly experiencing intolerance or aggression re-
of interest (Gawlicz et al., 2015).
As mentioned before, in the nineties, foreign pupils and students constituted
exceptional cases in Polish schools. Their presence started to be more visible at the
beginning of the 20th century, however, they were not evenly spread. The Mazovian
when they were hardly present in other localities, except for communes that Polish
Central Administration appointed for locations for refugee centres.
One could distinguish two main categories of foreign children learning in public
-
tional legal protection, mostly Chechens
11
. The second category of students consisted
of children who were motivated more by their parents. It included people originating
from countries with little cultural distance (e.g. neighbouring countries: Ukraine, Rus-
sia and Belarus) or countries where education has a high position in the hierarchy of
values (e.g. Vietnam12).
11 Since 1992 Poland started to grant refugee status under the 1951 Geneva Convention. Over the
years, the nationalities of foreigners seeking protection in Poland have changed considerably, depending
on the situation in other countries. However, after the outbreak of war in Chechnya (1999), the leading
country of origin of asylum seekers in Poland became the Russian Federation (Chechnya and other repub-
lics and countries of the Caucasus). Between 2003 and 2005, the proportion of children and adolescents
12
Vietnamese migration to Poland is an example of settlement migration. The educational and
technological exchange between Poland and Vietnam within the socialist block was a starting point for
-
257
to immediately attend regular classes with Polish students. For some teachers, “the
-
from pupils’ direct presence with a different cultural and religious background. Such
teachers used specially prepared scenarios for lessons, which were not limited to
13. They also tried to address immigrant children’s needs based on
intuition and experience.
Regarding refugees, until September 2006, they very rarely attended Polish schools.
Then schools began to accept them in higher numbers. For a particular school, such
in refugee centres, usually located in peripheral sites. Children learnt in the closest
schools, which created ethnic enclaves (Kosowicz 2007). In some units, teachers were
suddenly exposed to an extreme teaching task when 1/3 of unexpectedly arriving and
as abruptly disappearing children did not speak Polish. Refugee children’s behaviours
Due to traditions and lifestyle, teachers compared this group of pupils to the
Roma minority, which was relatively uninterested in the school education of its chil-
circumstances, teachers and headteachers were offering activities often in collabora-
tion with non-governmental organisations. Academics and teaching practitioners
presented examples of good practices
14
(e.g. Chrzanowska 2009, Klorek, Kubin 2012,
headteachers and their acceptance for innovative ideas encourages teachers to un-
2010; Stepaniuk 2017).
It is worth mentioning that the educational situation of refugee children depends
not only on access to schooling and psychological s
atmosphere in the Refugee Centre. Residing in the centre harms their daily life. They
13
A range of this kind of materials is steadily growing.
14 To recall one of them: so-called "Chechen 0-unit". The school organised it before the introduction
of preliminary units to Polish law. It involved a collaboration between Polish and Chechen teachers and
prepared children to start their education with Polish pupils in one classroom. In the school running this
"0-unit", the headteacher employed a Chechen teacher's assistant. It was possible thanks to the support
of the local authorities.
Polish Educational System Response Towards Immigrant Children’s Presence at Public Schools
258
are isolated from their Polish peers. They do not have a carefree childhood since they
are overwhelmed by the weight of adult issues, even though they are not fully aware
of them (Zalewska 2017).
the conditions of a Polish school. At least in the perception of teachers. Since their
presence did not disturb, teaching staff underestimated psychological costs borne
by pupils. Scholars pointed to an idealised picture of Vietnamese children, not fully
In their case, teachers did not see any threats to the organisation of the school. They
as possible. Vietnamese pupils were valuable because they gave other pupils a good
a good guest
2006: 180) who respects everything, does not infringe on the hosts’ life with his
on children who try to meet their parents’ expectations.
Categorising pupils on the basis of ’smooth’ or ‘rough’ adaptation is still valid in
teaching practitioners’ perceptions. For children originating from Ukraine, Belarus and
Russia, the language barrier is a big problem. However, after intensive Polish language
learning, they start to acquire knowledge fairly quickly and integrate easily. They do
not have substantial cultural differences to overcome, making it easier for them to
adapt to an environment dominated by Polish children. While children originating
from Muslim countries experience a real clash with a different culture, which gives
rise to problems and misunderstandings; moreover, their mother tongue is usually
genetically very distant from Polish. These children encounter many life situations that
are incomprehensible for them (Szulgan 2019).
Underestimation of psychological costs borne by pupils originating from neigh-
bouring countries is still an issue, at least for some children. Problems related to
adaptation to a new place, new school, new peers, different rules of functioning and
social coexistence, loneliness in emigration, personal issues and sometimes discrimi-
nation on various levels make the support of a psychologist with a native Ukrainian
language very much needed, both for pupils and their families
2019: 13). In an especially vulnerable position are youths living in boarding schools
without permanent parental care15.
After almost two decades since European Union enlargement (2004), Polish schools
have started to experience a comeback of ethnically Polish children, whose skills are not
more, for these kids, Poland is a foreign country to which they need to adapt. It turns
15
259
-
guments indicating the importance of keeping some forms of schooling in a mother
tongue abroad. The Polish state recognises non-Polish children’s right to learn their
language and culture. With regard to immigrants
16
, the school can provide classrooms
and teaching aids free of charge. But teaching is to be organised by diplomatic or
of running such classes are sporadic17
In conclusion, it is noteworthy that immigrant pupils, regardless of the kind of
-
ments of the syllabus. The teacher part entails a sense of responsibility for teaching
those who do not demonstrate challenges and those who have particular needs.
Yet even before legislation regulating national educational policy came into effect,
steaming from migration. In these terms, one might claim that the Polish capital
18
16
There is a distinction between new and old ethnic and national minorities in Poland. Without going
into details, the Constitution of the Republic of Poland (1997, Art. 35,70) ensures the rights of members
language or the minority language. Relevant provisions are a part of educational law. There are four forms
of education for minority members: schools with a language of instruction other than Polish, bilingual
-
tion in the minority's native language and inter-school teams of pupils from different schools.
17 Warsaw attracts not only international migrants but also internal ones, who are members of old
minorities. At the beginning of the 21st century immigrant children informally learnt Ukrainian in an inter-
school team together with national minorities. An attempt to formalise this situation terminated learning op
-
portunities for immigrants since different legal acts regulate immigrants' rights and the rights of Polish citizens
Ukrainian immigrants can study in public schools with the Ukrainian language of instruction. Such cases
such schools are located in relatively peripheral parts of Poland, where the old Ukrainian minority resides.
18 -
ties located in the capital. Their efforts aim at developing and implementing tools for teachers who work
with children from different cultural backgrounds. In 2008, a methodological advisor for learning Polish
as a second language was appointed in Warsaw. "Development of proper educational conditions for
foreigners, refugees, national minorities and repatriates" was a part of the Educational Policy in Warsaw
public schools could undertake Postgraduate Studies in Teaching Polish as a Foreign Language at the
Warsaw University and the City Hall covered the fee. Yet before the teacher's assistant top-down introduc-
Warsaw Centre for Education and Social Innovations and Trainings (a public centre for in-service training
of teachers and social assistance staff) runs a contact point for teaching foreign children. It is targeted
not only at professional but also parents, including Polish returnees.
Polish Educational System Response Towards Immigrant Children’s Presence at Public Schools
260
with migration experience are part of educational policies in other large cities that
available for teachers who are interested in it.
Psychological and pedagogical counsellors report that teachers lack knowledge
abilities of children. They do not take into account cultural differences. Without prop-
the results of two surveys conducted among
2017). Although the studies recalled above are not representative in a statistical sense,
they show a part of the educational reality19.
Why is it not brighter? The analysis of the educational offer preparing for work in
culturally diverse environments and additional training for teachers in preschool and
to a profound conclusion. It is teacher training at the general and vocational level
that is responsible for this state of affairs. The mono-specialist approach in academic
education and in-service training for teachers leads to a situation where candidates
undertaking them are working in a multicultural environment and are personally mo-
tivated to launch them. In contrast, the development of pedagogical competencies
in working with culturally diverse children should be a compulsory component of all
educational programmes, particularly those of a methodological nature. It cannot
teacher aware that teaching children with special needs, including ethnic or cultural
minorities, is not something additive and optional. The teacher’s task is to educate
Conclusions
Let us recall Pawlak (2013) and his study on the organisational response of schools
and aid institutions towards refugees in Poland after 2004. Referring to the assump-
tions of new institutionalism, he notes that the appearance of immigrant pupils at
19
37% of teachers surveyed declared that they did not
261
a shock within the educational system. The shocks for the educational system were
the school reform (1999), the changes in the students’ educational aspirations and
demographic shifts. For these reasons, the issue of migrant children was not high
on the national agenda. The few schools attended by refugee pupils have, however,
experienced a shock.
skills increased tenfold. Encouraging labour migration, they underestimated the fact
that families might accompany workers. Policymakers overlooked that it increases
the number of children who need teachers prepared for work in units where pupils
demonstrate different challenges, including those related to migration experience.
Legal acts regulating immigrant pupils’ presence in public primary and secondary
schools either implemented international obligations or responded with a delay to
already accumulated problems. Alarmingly, during the three school years covered
the SIO has not been analysed on the ministerial level. The minister in charge of
education has not monitored children’s situations, has not carried out appropriate
professional development and methodological support escaped ministerial examina-
to them?
Based on how national regulations developed and on the literature review, it
-
sion of national educational policy encompassing children with migration experience.
Since Pawlak’s publication (2013), the education system in Poland has experienced
a shock twice: the school reform (2017) and the transition to an almost year-long
online teaching mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The difference between the
period analysed in his book and the present day is that pupils without Polish citizen-
ship learn in 1/3 of Polish schools.
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