The schools in Saxony-Anhalt have taken in thousands of Ukrainian girls and boys in recent months. Arrival classes were set up and almost 200 Ukrainian teachers were hired. That should be over soon.
Magdeburg (dpa/sa) – Just under a year after the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, around 5,700 refugee Ukrainian boys and girls are attending schools in Saxony-Anhalt. Gradually, everyone should be taught in the German regular classes and no longer in arrival classes with Ukrainian teachers, as the Ministry of Education announced.
192 Ukrainian teachers and 63 specialists for German as a target language are currently on duty. “These teachers all have a fixed-term employment contract until the end of the school year. According to the current status, they are scheduled to leave on July 31, 2023 at the latest,” the ministry said when asked.
Education Minister Eva Feußner (CDU) wrote a letter to the parents of the Ukrainian children at the end of January, emphasizing the importance of learning the German language. “Essential prerequisites for the aspired school success is learning the German language, the motivation to fit into everyday German school life and to see this phase of life as a learning opportunity.” A regular promotion to the next grade is only possible with the necessary knowledge of the German language, the letter goes on to say.
“We are therefore trying very hard to further expand the school offers for language support, to submit more different offers and ask you to use all additional possibilities to support your children to learn the German language.” Regular visitors to additional school events and active participation in leisure, cultural and sports activities support integration.
The approximately 5,700 Ukrainian students study at all types of school: around 2,200 at primary schools, around 1,600 at secondary and community schools, and almost 1,300 at grammar schools. There are 55 pupils at the special schools and around 270 pupils at the comprehensive schools and sports schools in Halle. Around 320 Ukrainians study at the vocational schools.
“Taking in such a large number of additional children and young people in our school system within such a short period of time presented us with major challenges,” said the Minister of Education. “It is all the more gratifying that this worked so well. I am extremely grateful to everyone involved in the school for the great solidarity and openness that was and is shown to the Ukrainian refugees.”
According to Thekla Mayerhofer, the head of the primary school association, the integration of the Ukrainian pupils has progressed very differently. When many Ukrainian children and young people came a year to nine months ago, some schools divided them into as many different classes as possible. In others, there were the spatial conditions to offer separate cross-year classes with Ukrainian teachers – the arrival classes. In some cases there were also after-school care groups for Ukrainian children.
The language skills are correspondingly different. Mayerhofer said that some speak German so well that you can’t believe they’ve only been here a year. Others lived more secluded lives. All in all, Mayerhofer said, the Ukrainian families get involved at school festivals and in other ways. It is said that many have been here much longer than they wanted to stay. The perspective is often lacking in view of the ongoing war.
Education Minister Feußner also emphasized in her letter to parents: “We are aware that your current life situation is characterized by great uncertainty. The feeling of being between two systems emotionally and sometimes also academically is certainly only possible with great effort.” It is now important that the students from Ukraine can continue or successfully complete their school career in the 2023/24 school year.
According to the state education authority, Ukrainian children and young people who attend an arrival class are not graded there. However, the visit is documented in a comparable way with certificates. The goal of the arrival classes is that the Ukrainian children and young people can switch to the regular classes. The individual learning status is considered. And the change is already happening in many schools. According to the ministry, there is currently no nationwide survey of how many arrival classes and how many students there are.
The state education authority went on to say: “If Ukrainian children and young people learn in the regular classes, they will also be graded there regularly.” In justified cases, grading can be suspended due to insufficient knowledge of German. This is possible in the first two years of school. Separate rules apply to graduating classes.
A spokesman for the state education authority emphasized: “In the future, Ukrainian children and young people should not only be graded like their German classmates, but above all in the same way as all other children and young people with a refugee background. We do not want our own standards. This requires fairness, despite all reasonable accommodation. “
According to the Ministry of Education, temporary Ukrainian educators who want to stay in Germany in the long term can use the regular recognition channels for their Ukrainian qualifications. You would also have to prove that you have the mandatory German language skills.
