Great Willingness, Old Problems: How Schools Start Integrating Ukrainian Children
Created: 03/15/2022, 13:00
By: Tobias Gmach
There are many children among the refugees from Ukraine.
They are to be integrated into Bavaria's schools.
© picture alliance/dpa/Annette Riedl
Only a few Ukrainian children are still sitting in the district's classrooms.
Health issues need to be clarified and the schools are waiting for a pedagogical concept.
There is no shortage of ideas and volunteers – but, as is well known, there is a lack of teachers.
District – Even though only two children from war-torn Ukraine have been attending Gilching Middle School so far, Rector Gisela Bárta announces: “There will be a project day on Ukraine.
We will cook Ukrainian and deal with the country.” This wish was brought to her from the classes.
Bárta reports of a twelve-year-old boy: "He has already made friends." From Gilching to Starnberg: The head of the elementary school there, Nicole Bannert, recently sent a circular email to parents - who can help and how?
She received more than 100 responses to her first request.
Bannert offered concrete linguistic support from 14 parents, 28 of them in the category "Procurement of materials" and 17 in "Personal".
“The willingness to help is great,” she.
Anyone who talks to school principals in the district about the integration of Ukrainian children gets the impression: the will and the welcome ideas are there, but there are (still) a few problems.
School board director Karin Huber-Weinberger explains why the next generation of refugees has so far only occasionally sat in the classrooms of elementary and secondary schools.
"There are still health issues to be clarified," she says.
It is checked whether the children are vaccinated against measles, tuberculosis or the corona virus.
In individual cases, it is also about how long families stay in the district or a municipality.
And about concepts from above: On Monday, the school authority and headmaster received a letter from the Ministry of Education.
A pedagogical offer is in progress,
Ukrainian children should be able to attend it voluntarily before compulsory schooling begins.
Compulsory schooling applies three months after your arrival in Bavaria.
“Legally, all schools are on the safe side.
You still need some lead time.
But we try to get something up and running earlier," says the director of the school board.
However, she also emphasizes: “Readiness is not the problem.
But we don't have people to implement it."
BLLV Vice-Chairman in the district: The situation clearly shows a shortage of teachers again
Bannert, who is also deputy district chair of the Bavarian Teachers' Association (BLLV), sounds very similar.
“The situation clearly shows the shortage again.
We are already struggling to cope with the normal lessons.” There will not be many extra offers for refugees because of the scarce staff – at most on a voluntary, private level.
Gilching's middle school principal, Bárta, who speaks Czech and understands a little Ukrainian, has drawn up a list of helpers, like Bannert in Starnberg.
She offered the school authority two rooms for German lessons.
There are so-called German classes at the middle schools in Gauting and Herrsching, and refugee children from the 2015 wave have already benefited from the offer.
Four Ukrainians are already learning with the others at the Tutzinger Gymnasium, two each in the tenth and eighth grades.
“They should be able to experience everyday life and normality.
The social component is very important,” says headmaster Andreas Thalmaier.
He can imagine employing certain teachers to teach German as a foreign language, and a “crisis meeting” is scheduled for Wednesday.
How many Ukrainians can the gymnasium accommodate?
Thalmaier: “We must not leave the classes to ourselves.
But with 20 or 30 total we would be fine.”
