Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine has created the greatest refugee surge to OECD countries since World War II. It has forced millions of Ukrainians to flee their homes, with many seeking safety in neighbouring European and other OECD countries. This has created major challenges for schools and universities. Most Ukrainian children do not speak the language of their new host country and many are suffering from war-induced trauma. Policymakers, schools and teachers are faced with a twin challenge: of providing educational continuity for millions of Ukrainians and ensuring its relevance so they can re-enter the Ukrainian education system at a later date. While countries and organisations have worked together to support host country teachers and Ukrainian refugee teachers to address the specific needs of Ukrainian children, much more can be done to help.
One of the biggest issues for providing educational opportunities to Ukrainian students in host countries is language. It is stating the obvious that most Ukrainian refugee children are not fluent in their host country languages. This is backed up by an online database: Ensuring a long-lasting return to learning for Ukrainian refugees, that found many barriers to enrolment in host country schools, including the recognition of skills and qualifications, teacher capacity and language.
To resolve the language issue, host countries have frequently offered language catch-up courses to support the enrolment of Ukrainian refugees. These take place in many different forms, such as online courses, preparatory classes, and classes available in universities, schools and community centres. For example, in Austria, Ukrainian students with a lack of proficiency in German are often taught in separate temporary classes, as with other non-Ukrainian students with insufficient language proficiency.
