New Challenges Faced by the Polish Institutions of Preschool and Early-School Education (ECEC) in the Context of the War in Ukraine

Abstract

The subject-matter of the research presented in this article is the preparation of Polish preschool and early-school education for work with refugee children that have fallen victim to the war in Ukraine. The research is a review one, and the analysis of Polish and foreign literature relevant to the matters referred to in the title of the article is included in it. As the result of the conducted archive and library searches, it was ascertained that, hitherto, rather little research into this problem has been conducted in Poland (the reason for which fact is the absence of previous experiences with a minor being a war refugee), and also rich relevant experiences in the countries of the West, confirmed by the extensive literature of the subject. This article indicates the principal directions of research and activities – the problem of war trauma as experienced by a child, supporting the families of refugee children, and providing an ECEC teacher with competences required for the purpose of work with a child refugee afflicted by war. This article constitutes a sui generis prolegomena of research the objective of which is to prepare Polish ECEC teachers for facing the challenges connected with war in Ukraine and the presence of an Ukrainian child refugee in the Polish institutions of education.