Pedagogical support for Ukrainian war-affected children: future teachers’ readiness to work in crisis. comparative analysis of research results in Ukraine and Poland

What are the primary responsibilities of educators when teaching Ukrainian children affected by the russian invasion?2

Fig. 5. The primary responsibilities of educators in teaching Ukrainian children affected by the war ( based on the survey findings

Source: The survey was conducted by the authors of the article

The commitment of Ukrainian students united in solidarity during the war to assist, primarily children internally displaced from the war zone, is evidenced by their volunteer experiences. All of them are filled with feelings of patriotism, empathy, national unity, high spirituality and humanism, and faith in victory over the enemy.

Anna H., second-year master's student at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, a teacher at Kryla Private Gymnasium in Ivano-Frankivsk:

"I am always amazed by the children's desire to discover new things, despite the war trauma they have experienced. These children gradually demonstrated sincerity and frankness in communication with peers and teachers. I am delighted to have had the chance to contribute to making their dreams come true. Our gymnasium

1 The respondents had the option to select several answers to each question.

works under the motto “We will teach you to fly”. And this was our principal goal in working with stu dents relocated to us from the regions that suffered terrible destruction due to the war - Kherson, Mariupol, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Mykolaiv.

In conversations with them, I felt that they no longer have a “childlike” understanding of war, because they have experienced a lot of fear due to the loss of their homes, relatives, and friends... Therefore, I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the formation of their successful future, to develop true human and national values, and to avoid remembering (because it is impossible to forget) the horrors of war”.

Vira T., a third-year bachelor's student at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University:

“I held several classes for students relocated to our city because their families fled from occupied Kherson and Mariupol. They told me in great detail about how they avoided roadblocks; how their cars were shot at and they maneuvered to survive; how they prayed for a safe journey to unoccupied Ukraine; how their mother remembers her home in the evenings and cries... and so on. They will never forget the real war traumas, but we must manage to encourage them to be positive and instill faith in victory. The children believed that they would soon return to their homes and schools in Kherson. And this occurred after the war had been ongoing for more than 100 days! I noticed that the children had matured a lot during the war, learned to help, love Ukrainians, and hate the enemy”.

The following are some of the reflections of Polish students, and their narrative interviews about their experience of volunteering with Ukrainian children of war (the survey was anonymous).

An important context for providing support is understanding the cultural differences built around different languages, traditions, attitudes toward religion, history, national experiences, rituals, and ultimately, the human mentality. One of the individuals involved in this effort observes:

“I haven't been in contact with such children for a long time, but I know that it is very important to get to know Ukrainian culture and upbringing styles. I have observed the fact that the behavior of Ukrainian children, which is not understandable to me, is normal in their culture.Therefore, I think it is important to know these differences to understand when a child's behavior is a result of trauma and when it is completely normal and is the result of where and how they were brought up”.

For a teacher, understanding a child's behavior and being able to read non-verbal messages is very important, especially in crisis situations. And the experience of war trauma, emotional crisis is a common feature of almost all people who have experienced war. Students strongly emphasize the need for professional support from a psychologist. Even very well-prepared teachers can be helpless in the face of emotional crises of children and their relatives. A teacher does not have the competence of a therapist. From the students' statements:

“Unfortunately, almost all children are experiencing a lot of stress, and the first thing they need is therapy with a psychologist. I am also from Ukraine and have experienced terrible things, just like everyone else, and only a psychologist is helping me to finish my studies at university”.

“I believe that at school children should be supervised by a teacher or psychologist as much as possible, as this will help them adapt to the new conditions they have to face”.

However, Polish students note that despite the lack of professional psychological support, they can still take care of the children's psychological well-being at a basic level. However, they acknowledge the need to strengthen their competencies in this regard during their studies. From their statements:

“The most important thing for children is to feel safe. They often feel scared and afraid to leave their caregivers to play. Surrounding them with care, and reassuring them of good intentions and tenderness is the key to my volunteer work”.

“I think that teachers need professional training to know how to talk about the war, how to help them adapt to the Polish school, traditions, and customs, how to be stress-resistant, etc.”.

Preparation for the teaching profession should pay greater attention to building interpersonal social competencies. In the curriculum at the Institute of Pedagogy at Jagiellonian University, students have the following subjects and workshops: Interpersonal Training, Interpersonal Communication, Theoretical Foundations of Interpersonal Relationships, Crisis Intervention, Mediation and Negotiation in Schools, and Relational Competencies in Pedagogical Work. During their studies, they learn in a safe environment, within their own peer group, through reading literature, discussions, and by applying methods like drama, project-based learning, and case studies. However, until now, they have not had direct contact with real-life situations, real people, and their problems. The aggression of Russia towards Ukraine and the appearance of Ukrainian families in need of help and support was a real test for them.

“Preschool children communicated very well with their Polish peers. Problems occurred rather with older children, mainly in secondary school. However, empathy, support, and compulsory training for those who work with such children are essential.Training in crisis interaction and skills for working with child survivors of war (how to respond, what to do, what to avoid, how to support, when to intervene and seek help from other mental health professionals, etc.)”.

“This experience has taught me a lot. I learned to be more sensitive to other people and their needs than ever before. These children brought a lot of joy into my life. I managed to get involved and help them as much as I could. My friends and I organized a donation campaign that had an amazing response, for which I am very grateful: games, school supplies, toys, and all the things that were necessary to create conditions for working and playing with children, even in a small way. It was an amazing experience for me to participate in this volunteer project together with my daughter Natalia. I observed her strong desire to assist, engage, and embrace the opportunity presented to us during that period. She eagerly anticipated the day she could visit and spend time with these children. At Easter, my daughter and I made Christmas packages for each child, and many friends contributed. I am grateful for the opportunity to parti cipate in such meaningful work... ”.

“The children and young people I had the opportunity of assisting did not have long-term or permanent plans to stay in Poland (parents' decision), so the most reasonable form was education, integration, and ensuring their well-being during their stay”.

Discussion and recommendations

The survey findings revealed that student volunteers, in their efforts with ID children, tried to help restore their self-efficacy, adaptability, and resilience. For this purpose, for example, the youngest students were involved in writing postcards and playing games with adults (including parents) to create a positive tone for accepting and confronting life's hardships; to make them feel safe, and to give them less access to the news, as they feel vulnerable and depressed when experiencing difficult events.

- aspects related to specifics of one's character and self-regulation of behavior encompass the availability of identified accentuation and their characteristic features, the arbitrariness of behavior regulation in situations of pedagogical interaction, the ability to show responsibility in behavior, moral regulation of behavior, etc.

- the student's attitude to the surrounding world and self-reflection includes factors like possessing a stable motivation for content-based learning (cognitive, positional, social or other), personal anxiety, attitude to various activities, etc.

In the conditions of wartime, Ukrainian and Polish teachers admitted that they experienced psychoemotional tension, overload, stress, and sometimes a lack of readiness to communicate with students who have experienced significant war trauma (e.g., lost parents or other relatives, homes, were forced to move to other regions of the country or the world, etc.) Therefore, educators need psychological support and methodological assistance. According to research conducted by GoGlobal, the war in Ukraine has changed not only students (who, despite stress and disappointment, have become more empathetic, ready to help, nationally conscious, and inclined to volu nteer and support the Armed Forces) but also educators. The data indicates that 54% of teachers have observed symptoms of professional burnout, presenting a significant risk to the quality of education in educational institutions (however, it is important to acknowledge that there may be subjectivity in recognizing their psychological well-being). (Education in the context of war, 2023).

The renewal of the educational process in schools and universities during martial law in Ukraine serves as a form of therapy for many educators, as it allows teachers to integrate into their typical professional role, helping them rediscover a sense of purpose and value during a challenging period for the country. Therefore, students, even if they have experienced suffering and stress, can also help each other and the teacher to "recover", draw positive energy from joint educational interaction, and engage in volunteering (for example, weaving camouflage nets for the military, making trench candles; creating amulets for Ukrainian soldiers, "motivational" drawings, greeting cards, patriotic bracelets, souvenirs, etc.).

O. Ivanova emphasizes the necessity of developing the teacher's resilience as the ability of the human psyche to recover, especially relevant in connection with the importance of resisting current stresses. The scientist offers her definition of this concept:

"[...] Resilience is a personal competence that is a natural and dynamic combination of knowledge, skills and practical abilities, ways of thinking, professional, ideological, and civic qualities, and moral, ethical, and spiritual values and determines a relatively stable ability of a person to conscious self-regulation in various life circumstances. This competence, in our opinion, should become the key [...] of the teacher's personality in the first place” (Ivanova, 2022, p. 2).

Therefore, we propose that the professional training of future teachers should include a professional development module, introducing techniques to increase stress resistance and coping with burnout in working with students who have war trauma or are experiencing other crises. It is equally important to strengthen the potential of practical psychologists in educational institutions to provide mental health and psychosocial support (to children, teachers, and parents) during (after) war. We recommend that the content of higher education for Ukrainian and Polish students should include a methodological case study on adaptation in crisis of professional activity and support for the psycho-emotional state of children and their parents.

To provide psychological and pedagogical support for the adaptation of Ukrainian students to studying in foreign educational institutions, to overcome the language barrier and communication challenges, the EU has developed a practical guide that includes simple informative images accompanied by the most commonly used phrases in Ukrainian followed by translations into different languages - English, French, German, Czech, Polish, Finnish, Latvian, etc. (Publications Office of the European Union., 2022). This is just another demonstration of boundless solidarity without borders and assistance to children of war provided by the civilized world (Fig. 6). We propose these materials to future teachers as a didactic tool for teaching students at the first stage of adaptation to the country of residence.