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Ukrainian children in a welcoming class: a controversial model
Photo: Waltraud Grubitzsch / picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild
How should Ukrainian children and young people who have fled to Germany since the beginning of the war be taught in this country?
After a long break to get settled first?
Together with German children or separately, among themselves?
An expert council of the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK) published recommendations on Tuesday.
The core requirement is therefore that all children and young people attend daycare or school as soon as possible after their arrival.
"There they can learn German, continue their education, socialize with peers and receive help in dealing with possible trauma," says Olaf Köller, co-chair of the Standing Scientific Commission (SWK).
The commission consists of 16 educational researchers from different disciplines.
The body was set up last year to advise the federal states on the further development of the German school system.
In addition, the commission pleads for psychological care offers up to and including trauma therapy.
"We have to assume that 25 to 35 percent of children and young people from Ukraine suffer from severe psychological stress," said co-chair Felicitas Thiel, who is a professor of school pedagogy and school development research at Freie Universität Berlin.
Contacts with peers are among the "essential protective factors," according to Thiel.
It is all the more important to enable daycare and school attendance.
The teachers, therapists and pedagogical specialists who have fled the Ukraine should, if possible, be involved from the start.
Schooling based on the Ukrainian model?
Recently there had been discussions about whether Ukrainian children and young people who had fled to Germany should be quickly integrated or should be taught according to the Ukrainian model.
The Ukrainian Consul General Iryna Tybinka had called for the latter in a speech to the KMK more than two weeks ago.
It is important to preserve the continuity of the educational processes and the national identity of Ukrainian children.
The stay of the refugees is only temporary, she explained.
In their statement, the scientists now recommend »supplementary educational offers« in Ukrainian »as far as possible«.
This is supported by the fact that the families who have fled are highly motivated to return to their country as soon as possible.
In the statement, however, the experts also point out that Ukrainian-language teachers must be "won over and professionalized" for this task.
The experts write that it will hardly be possible to implement it quickly in view of the current challenges in schools.
Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) had initially spoken out in favor of admitting the children to so-called welcome classes.
With this concept, newly immigrated children of different origins first learn German separately from others before they switch to regular classes.
Stark-Watzinger now said: "The aim must be to find a good balance between integration into our education system and the preservation of the Ukrainian identity." It is hoped that the children and young people will be able to return to their homeland in the foreseeable future, but they also have to be prepared, according to the minister, »that they will stay with us longer«.
According to the experts, smaller children of primary school age should go directly to mainstream classes instead of welcome classes.
The Commission also doesn't think much of lessons in collective accommodation, because the necessary infrastructure is missing there and that prevents contact with German children.
According to the experts, it is also important to have “high-quality language support, whether in the preparatory class or in the regular class”.
It shouldn't end even when the students switch to regular classes.
At the same time, the refugee children and young people should be provided with educational opportunities in their native language.
In this way, the children could learn well when they return home.
And that is important for a »well-founded examination of the history and culture of your country of origin«, says Petra Stanat, scientific director of the Institute for Quality Development in Education (IQB) and member of the SWK.
Education politicians in the federal states estimate that around half of the war refugees arriving in Germany are children and young people.
fok/dpa