The article draws attention to the difficulties in functioning as a pupil and peer of children of other cultures (migrants) who have to find themselves in a new educational and social reality after coming to Poland. There will be special analysis made of migrant children (of other nationalities), who mainly face language competence deficits and, consequently, adaptation and educational problems. The educational system has to more often face the new challenges of teaching and bringing up multicultural students (belonging to different national, ethnic, linguistic, and religious). For them, Polish is usually a foreign language that significantly influences the quality of their social contacts and educational achievements. Language proficiency is therefore crucial for school success and integration. One of these challenges is to accurately and reliably identify the needs of students with multiple difficulties at different levels of education to organize effective psychological and pedagogical assistance. The article draws attention to the key elements of the diagnostic process which include: a diagnostician, a child, a parent (subjects in the research relationship), and research methods and tools (subjects). The issue of limitations of the process of diagnosing specific learning and social difficulties becomes particularly important here, as well as identification of barriers resulting from the search for effective assistance solutions.

Social Integration of Persons with Disabilities in Ukraine

The main directions of Ukraine’s social policy towards the disabled are presented in the article. Topical issues of integration of persons with disabilities into society are covered. The meaning of the concept of “social stigmatization” is revealed. The authors analyze and define the tools of social stigma in the legislation of Ukraine on issues of social integration of persons with disabilities. It has been proven that stigma in some cases deprives a person of full status, becomes a source of prejudice, discrimination, social isolation of the stigmatized, causes low self-esteem and feelings of depression, forms a negative social identity, and complicates psychosocial adaptation. Certain steps have already been taken to ensure the protection of persons with disabilities by creating appropriate conditions for them in society and equal opportunities for the realization of vital needs, abilities, and creative potential. The article defines a system of measures aimed at improving the lives of persons with disabilities, restoring their social status, achieving material independence, and comprehensive integration into society. The authors also propose measures to remove obstacles caused by stigmatization in the way of integration of persons with disabilities into society.

Global cultural exchange is a well-known, boundless phenomenon. Therefore, it is fundamental for countries to promote mutual understanding and tolerance of cultural diversity, to prevent stigmatization and social hermetization from migrant backgrounds, and to foster social inclusion, thus fulfilling the assumptions of sustainable development. Polish society is considered to be relatively homogenous in terms of culture, however, the increasing influx of immigrants, especially from Eastern Europe, poses a new challenge for its national schooling system and multicultural education. That is why the aim of the article was to verify the state of preparation of Polish schools for multicultural education, mutual attitudes of the participants of the educational process, and the relationships between them, as well as to indicate dependency between parents, students, and teachers. The article presents the results of quantitative research carried out in a group of early childhood education teachers from border regions. The results of the conducted research showed the state of intercultural education in Polish schools before the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The study is barely the attempt of monitoring the condition of intercultural education, especially in the current “new multicultural reality” in Polish schools.

In this presentation I try to explain the process of social integration of disabled people. I present the issues of the social and legal situation of the disabled, myths and stereotypes created by society and integration education (the presence of disabled children in normal schools). I prepared it using the available professional literature and generally accepted educational programmes in Polish schools. Moreover, I analised legislative acts concerning the disabled. I also used information from web sites, which are created by various organisations of the disabled. The analysis shows that the number of disabled people depends on the health condition, and living conditions of society and also the efficient work of the health service. Moreover, we must remember that the phenomenon of disability becomes more intensive with aging, as the consequence of the population growing older. Perceiving the status of a disabled person depends on such factors as: value systems in a given society, cultural influences and socioeconomic status of a country. If the marginalisation of certain social groups lasted for a long time, a completely natural reaction in such a situation would be a tendency to strengthen and consolidate one’s identity, and also cultural and social distinction. The prejudices and stereotypes, concerning the disabled functioning in society, account for the main difficulties in their full revalidation and rehabilitation. The idea of integration, which means their full inclusion in social life, requires a change in the attitudes from negative to positive: tolerance, acceptance and cooperation.

Educational systems worldwide apply some form of tracking which stratifies students according to their ability. Our study shows that teachers’ perceptions of intergenerational bonding in school diff er according to the track in which the teacher-student relationships take place. Moreover, this mechanism is responsible for the students’ lower sense of belonging in technical/vocational schools compared to academic schools. In terms of strengthening students’ connectedness to a technical/vocational school environment, we indicate that strengthening the level of trust in students on behalf of the teachers could be a crucial step that needs to be undertaken.