More than half a year past the beginning of the war in Ukraine, tensions in the education system are increasing, the lack of staff and resources for integrating refugee students pose great challenges – on a daily basis. This article provides insights into a quantitative sub-study (N=1158) of the School-Barometer based on the experiences of German teachers and school principals in managing the Russia-Ukraine war at school and the incoming students from Ukraine. Consequences of the war touch many areas of life, far beyond Ukrainian and Russian national borders. Thus, schools in German speaking countries were challenged to deal with the war on two levels: 1) thematically with resulting questions in classroom, concerns and fears of all involved in school and 2) with integrating students and teachers from Ukraine seeking protection in these countries. Hence, our study aims to present and discuss the experiences of school staff concerning both, the arrival of refugees and dealing with the topic of peace and war in the classroom.

Wishes, ideas, and experiences of school employees in dealing with the war in these two dimensions were published in Author et al. (2022) based on the qualitative research data, a compilation of online resources was provided, too. Anderegg (2022) developed a checklist for school principals concerning the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war for schools. A guide for teachers on how to deal with the Russian war in Ukraine was also designed by Berens (2022).

Our study aims to present and discuss the experiences of school staff concerning the arrival of refugees and dealing with the topic of peace and war in the classroom. 

RQ.: What are the experiences of teachers and school principals in Germany with arriving refugee students from Ukraine and the topic of war and peace in the classroom?

The presented study is a sub-study within the School-Barometer cluster, which monitors the situation of schools since the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (Author et al., 2020). The data were collected using online questionnaires via Unipark and analyzed descriptively. The sample includes 1,085 teachers and 73 school principals (N=1158) in Germany who were surveyed between March and May 2022. Four main topics of the survey items are: 1) Teaching and School, 2) School Offerings, 3) Organization and Staff, and 4) Support. Even though conducted in Germany, the survey results are transferable to the situation in Austria and Switzerland to a certain extent.

67% of staff were able to respond (rather) well to student’s questions regarding the Russian war in Ukraine. The war as topic took up a larger part of the lesson. More than half (57%) of school staff believe that refugee students should be taught in designated refugee classes. Only 34% believe that refugee children and youth should be taught inclusively in regular classes. 59% of school staff believe that refugees from Ukraine should be taught in different locations. Only about a third (30%) would like to see them being taught at one location all together. While about one-third of staff feel well or rather well prepared for teaching students from Ukraine, one-third (32%) feel more or less well prepared and about one-third (36%) feel not well or rather not well prepared to deal with the influx of new students. Most time (11 hours/week) should be spent on offers in German, state the questioned teachers and school leaders. This is followed by leisure activities, activities in the home language (8 hours/week) and finally activities in English. Most employees think that 10 hours per week should be spent on psychological services. Cooperation among colleagues is perceived low or rather too low by 28% of employees. 27% of school employees are somewhat satisfied or satisfied with the available resources for integration services. 31% are more or less satisfied and 41% are (rather) dissatisfied. On average, eight refugee students were admitted to one school. An additional 18 refugee students are expected per school. More than half (53%) of school administrators feel that the school system provides enough information on how to deal with the war. Nearly two-thirds of school administrators (61%) find that the school system does not coordinate. An average of two additional staff for refugees are desired and three independent of refugees.

Anderegg, N. (2022). Krieg in der Ukraine: Checkliste für Schulleitende. Schule Verantworten | führungskultur_innovation_autonomie, 1(1), 8–13. https://doi.org/10.53349/sv.2022.i1.a184 Authors (2022, 2020) Berens, C. (2022). Ukraine-Krieg im Unterricht thematisieren. On Lernen in der digitalen Welt. Begleiten statt benoten, 9, 32–35. Klinger, U. (2022). Ukrainische Kinder in der Schule. Drei geflüchtete Lehrerinnen berichten aus Deutschland und der Ukraine. Lernende Schule. Teacher Leadership, 98, 37–40.