Sham Education? Survival Strategies for Ukrainian Refugee Students and Teachers (Based on Feedback from General Education Teachers)

Abstract

The aim of the article was to describe the strategies used by refugee students from Ukraine and teachers in upper secondary schools after Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Under these extraordinary conditions, students were enrolled in a school that differed in structure, organization, curricula, assessment system and culture. The article is based on qualitative research in an interactionist perspective, which was conducted by means of interviews among teachers of various upper secondary schools. Teachers had to face previously unknown challenges related to the implementation of the teaching process with students who do not speak Polish. The article describes the strategies of students and teachers that were created to cope with this situation and their functions in the context of the educational process. The identified strategies of students include: the strategy of distancing, avoiding engagement and the strategy of not learning Polish. The article also contains a description of the strategies implemented by teachers who had to face the problem of teaching refugee students. In their everyday educational practices, they developed and applied the following strategies: bracketing students, minimizing expectations, and the strategy of double standards. As a result, these strategies have led to the production of façade education and practices that exclude students from the educational process.