While many Ukrainian parents prefer to continue with the Ukrainian education system, Estonian policy-makers want the children to learn Estonian, and schools are doing their best to accommodate both views.
E-learning as a solution
Elders of the Estonian community still remember how it felt to leave their home in the midst of war, unsure if they would ever be able to return; how it was difficult to decide where to settle and go through the process of learning a new language and building a new life. The world has changed since the 1940s but some things have remained the same. Wars still push people away from their roots and change the destinies of nations, and these same questions are still in the minds of present-day refugees.
A humanitarian crisis is always an educational crisis. Within Ukraine, thousands of school buildings have been damaged or destroyed by bombing and only 60% of schools were safe enough to open this school year in September. Out of the five million people who fled Ukraine, almost half are school-aged children whose educational path was disrupted by the Russian invasion.
Something has still changed since the 1940s. New technological innovations and cooperation have provided opportunities for continuing education despite the conflict. With the experience of distance learning gained during the COVID-19 pandemic and support from international donors, Ukrainian schools have been able to offer classes, homework, and exams online. This is also the preferred option of many parents who expect to be able to return home soon and don't want their children to miss out on a whole year of learning.
Unprepared schools
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), approximately 57,000 Ukrainian refugees had entered Estonia by October 2022. Even if many of them are just passing through, this is a huge number (almost 4% of population) for a small country like Estonia, that had previously accepted only a few refugees. In addition to shelter and food, the Estonian state needs to provide refugee children with access to education. Schools are considered essential in a situation of crisis. In addition to skills and knowledge, they also provide stability, social support, and a path to integrate into the host nation.
At the start of this year, Estonian schools, as well as the Ministry of Education and municipalities, were inexperienced and unprepared to welcome refugees. Spring 2022 was therefore chaotic, and the situation was ambiguous and insecure. No one knew how many children would arrive, where they would settle, or how many people with teaching qualifications would be among the arrivals. Schools receiving refugee children were asked to improvise and manage on their own.
This September, at the start of a new school year, the picture became somewhat clearer. While most Estonian schools enrolled at least some Ukrainian children, in Tallinn, where most of the refugees were settled, a brand new Freedom School (Vabaduse kool) was established and eight schools have established special classes for Ukrainian children. Many refugees with a background in teaching have found employment in these schools.
However, thinking about the longer-term integration, the Estonian Ministry of Education would prefer to place refugee children in language immersion classes or regular classes in Estonian-language schools to avoid an increase in the number of Russian-speakers with poor knowledge of Estonian (see my previous column about the challenges of Russian-language education). The lack of Estonian teachers still continues to be a big problem in fulfilling that aim.
Controversial aims
Many refugee children have the option to continue distance learning for their Ukrainan school while in Estonia, which has created some controversy between the wishes of the parents, demands of the Estonian Ministry of Education, and the realities of schools. In September, it was estimated that out of the 8,000 school-aged Ukrainian refugees, less than 5,000 were registered in Estonian schools, despite the fact that under Estonian law, schooling is obligatory. Many Ukrainian parents want their children to follow Ukrainian on-line schools in hope of being able to return home as soon as possible. Through distance learning, the refugee children are following the same daily schedule, homework, and exams as pupils in Ukraine. Going to an Estonian school in addition to this feels like an unnecessary burden to them. Or if the children needs to go to school, many parents would rather see the children learning in a language they know, Russian.
Estonian municipalities and schools are responding to the wishes of parents by creating special classes for Ukrainian children in Russian-language schools and by improvising with individualized learning models, where a child can utilize Ukrainian distance learning tools and come to Estonian school only for Estonian lessons and other subjects which do not require knowledge of the Estonian language (sports, art, etc.). Gradually, as this linguistic knowledge increases, the aim is to start learning more subjects in Estonian. Flexibility and compromises are needed on both sides. As time passes, the refugees might have second thoughts about their return and need to be prepared to fully integrate if they decide to stay.
Lessons learned
If there is anything positive among this chaos, it is the experiences gained within the education sector. Estonian schools are learning to become more accommodating for refugees while Ukrainian teachers who are now working in Estonia will get to improve their digital skills and take part in a crash course in new interactive student-centred teaching methods, which will be an asset if they return to Ukraine.
The technical innovations developed can also serve as a model for future refugee crises globally. At the legislative level, there might be a need to rethink the obligation to go to school in a refugee situation, when children prefer to continue distance learning in their place of origin. It is clear that more flexibility is needed in accommodating for refugees. Some refugees will return, some will stay. If they have access to education and employment, they will contribute to both their place of origin and their new host country.
