Navigating and negotiating borders in primary and secondary education: Ukrainian children in Polish schools

Abstract

Bordering is a process of socio-cultural exclusion. Migration scholars discuss bordering mainly in relation to how immigration status can prevent migrants from accessing public services. In Poland, children regardless of their immigration status have access to free public education, but this does not necessarily mean that foreign-born children are accepted by their classmates and feel that they belong to the school community. In this article, we look at education as a bordering practice that excludes migrant children from full integration into Polish schools. Using ethnographic data, we identify borders present in educational spaces and analyze their social, material, epistemological, and political effects. Our analysis centers on places and actors involved in re/bordering public education in Poznań and Wrocław. We show that schools are important spaces for building social relationships and facilitating integration, but they also become places of exclusion.