Anti-refugee attitudes of social media participants and the goals of intercultural education

The purpose of this article is to present anti-refugee attitudes observed on the Internet which show the influence of virtual space on the formation of opinions on refugees. The data collected during the ethnographic research in the period 2015–2019 concern attitudes, behaviors and narratives negating the reception of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the grassroots criticism of Internet users against sheltering refugees in the Polish territories. Social media were shown as a tool for expressing public opposition to the prospect of accepting refugees into Poland. Among the data, there were contents that comprised an indirect or direct negation of the goals of intercultural education. An analysis was conducted of the content posted on the Facebook platform on the website “No to the Islamization of Europe”, the functioning of which focuses on informing and commenting on the events related to the “migration crisis”. The research material includes the data from 2018 – a period when the attention of the creators of this medium focused on the potentially negative consequences of accepting refugees into Europe. The conclusions of the research justify and explain the need for the goals of cultural education, which is shown here as a way to counteract stereotypes.

Solutions for the integration of children and youth in Cracow’s schools after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Conclusions from the pilot study

The article presents the conclusions of a pilot survey study conducted in Cracow in September 2022. The author makes a diagnosis of educational activities undertaken in the municipality of Cracow, in the period from February 25 to June 30, 2022 (in the first four months from the outbreak of the war in Ukraine). She confronts them with the conclusions of in-depth interviews conducted with experts in the field of integration. Solutions regarded as “good practices”, such as additional Polish language lessons, psychological and pedagogical assistance, educational departments and intercultural assistantship, are rated the best. However, children and young people with refugee experience have little chance of learning the language, culture and geography of their country of origin. We can also indicate a few critical moments of the integration process (so-called rich points) that generate tensions in intercultural communication. These include ambivalent attitudes towards migrant children, youth and their parents. On the one hand, representatives of the majority of society show empathy and provide real help, on the other hand, they accuse migrants of being demanding and indecisive. The most difficult situation is currently faced by young people who do not know the Polish language and are forced to take exams in this language at the end of subsequent stages of education. This age group is particularly vulnerable to marginalization. The conclusions from the study also indicated areas requiring further, in-depth evaluation.

This study investigated women, migration, decent work and vulnerabilities in Africa. Essentially, it is on record that for the last few years more female migrants have been migrating independently for work, education and as heads of households. Despite these improvements, female migrants may still face stronger discrimination, are more vulnerable to mistreatment, and can experience double discrimination as both migrants and as women in their host country in comparison to male migrants. Nonetheless, male migrants are also exposed to vulnerabilities in the migration processes. For example, records have it that every day, women across Libya who have been subjected to forced marriages, sexual abuse, and other dire situations, leave their home countries for the prospect of a better life and with longing for Europe’s safety, they are willing to face an equally perilous route ahead, with the constant risk of being returned to Libyan detention centres, where they are abused, starved, and tortured (Palmucci, 2021). It is based on this that this study was carried out using investigative analysis of women victims who are presently returnees to their home country (Nigeria). Through identified women returnees from some of these countries, most especially Libya, 15 women returnees interacted to share their experiences while outside the country for greener pastures. These 15 women returnees were able to link the authors of this study to other 29 women returnees to Nigeria in the last three to two years.

Ongoing globalization, open borders, emigration and the increasing phenomenon of multiculturalism make it necessary to deal with the diversity of a pluralistic society. It has been extremely important to prepare children and young people to live in such a society, which is to shape their attitudes on the acceptance of cultural diversity, respect and tolerance for minorities or ethnic minorities, to help combat stereotypes, prejudice, racism and xenophobia. This task can be achieved through intercultural education. This article focuses on the analysis of the inclusion of multi – and intercultural education in the modern grammar school curriculum in the schools of Koszalin as an example of public institutions in the cities of one culture.

Migrations as a challenge for pedagogy and intercultural education

The aim of the article is to show the issue of migration, its specificity and scale, and to indicate the challenges that this 21st century phenomenon poses to pedagogy and intercultural education. The multi-million crowd of migrants coming from a different cultural circle poses new challenges for the communities. Their essence is the need to overcome a reducing vision of the world. The research problem here is the understanding of the complexity of the international migration movement, and the introduction of the notion of taming strangeness and the category of the Other as a response of intercultural pedagogy to the challenges posed by migrations in the socio-educational space. The study used the method of desk research and critical analysis of sources, meta-analysis of concepts and categories constituting the research problem comprised in the title. As a way to understand the specificity of migration, there is a suggestion to analyze this phenomenon from the perspective of interdisciplinary sources and selected international documents. Theoretical analyses of the indicated categories lead to pedagogical and educational implications in the context of shaping the meeting space, an attitude of openness, developing a dialogical attitude, creative understanding of differences and acceptance of the Other in intercultural education.

In the context of the military conflict in Ukraine, since February 24, 2022, the Polish government has decided to include refugee children in the continuation and implementation of education in the Polish education system at various stages and levels of education. Educational institutions in Poland have faced the great challenge of accepting refugee children into the Polish education system. Due to the war situation, both children with a refugee background and their guardians (mothers), as well as teachers, were confronted with the reality that showed many aspects of education and the implementation of the didactic process in a situation hitherto unknown and unexpected. The article aims to provide a preliminary diagnosis of the education process of children with a refugee background from the perspective of teachers and institutional support. In addition, the analysis also attempted to assess the health and mental well-being of children with experience of war trauma. Critical reflection on the education process of refugee children in Poland is based on available reports and studies of quantitative and qualitative research carried out primarily by public institutions (Polish Ministry of Education and Science, UNHCR, Integrated Educational Platform) and the private sector (Centre for Citizenship Education 2022–2023).

Women and children are disproportionately those seeking immigration relief in the United States, and women lawyers are disproportionately those helping them. But it can’t be just women lawyers doing the helping. This article addresses immigration pro bono legal work, which is primarily conducted by women, and its impact on access to justice in the United States. Using a gender lens, the article examines naturalization, birthright citizenship, asylum and Temporary Protected Status, which is newly available for people from Ukraine and from Afghanistan. Immigration is an important area of focus for pro bono work, because without this help many people will stay in poverty and live on the margins of society.

One of the broadly discussed issues, in particular in societies with poor infrastructure of formal care of dependent people (i.e. Poland), is the effect of the ageing process on the efficiency of informal care of the elderly by family members, friends, neighbors, and local communities. The complex situation of elderly care resulting from dropping fertility is further complicated when the emigration rate is high in a given country, such as Poland. The problem is often conceptualized in terms of moral panic. It needs to be emphasized that intergenerational transfers are not unidirectional and not always necessary, as exemplified by parents often helping their children working abroad, and not all elderly parents need care. In this article, I will emphasize the point of view of the parents of migrants, by focusing on the functioning of the transnational system of social security that consists of different actors (migrating and relatively immobile) in both sending and receiving societies. Quantitative and qualitative data from the field studies carried out from 2010–2012 will be used for the purpose of this text.

Research and educational project “Ukrainian Teaching Materials 2022” for Wrocław’s pre- and early school education – a presentation of survey results

Alongside the tragic consequences of the armed conflict, the Russian attack on Ukraine in 2022 resulted in an upheaval within the educational system in Poland. This situation posed challenges for Ukrainian children arriving in Poland as well as for teachers and students in educational institutions where refugee children were being admitted without restrictions. The author’s research and educational project “Ukrainian Teaching Materials 2022” for Wrocław’s pre – and early school education in 2022 aimed to support the development of language skills among refugee children in their native language and in Polish, and to support preschool and early school teachers in this endeavour by providing them with appropriately prepared methodological packages. A diagnostic survey identified teachers’ needs regarding methodological materials. At the same time, a follow-up focus group interview conducted 30–40 days later presented teachers’ reflections and experiences in teaching in linguistically and culturally diverse groups during the initial period of the war migration. The project was also aimed to raise awareness among teachers and to cultivate an open attitude towards using bilingual and Ukrainian-language materials in working with children with war migration experience. Due to the collected extensive research material, the research findings were divided into two parts: the first part presents the theoretical and methodological context of the project as well as the results of the survey. In contrast, the second part presents the results of the focus group research and discussion based on the literature review.

Migration to Poland from across the eastern border in 2015–2023 in the opinion of society, state authorities and representatives of the Catholic Church

Migration is currently one of the greatest global problems, which has to be dealt with not only by states or their communities, but also by non-state entities operating in the world, including churches and religious associations, which in countries such as Poland have a very strong social resonance. The Catholic Church, on the basis of centuries of heritage, benefits in this sphere from the teaching of successive popes, which, rooted in aid attitudes, is a response to the actions of the state, encouraging the faithful to attitudes in line with the Christian spirit. This article, through an analysis of sources - historical documents, discourse and statistical data - answers the question of how the Catholic Church, state authorities and society in Poland have responded to migration into the country from the East in 2015–2023 period, presenting similarities and differences existing in the statements and opinions of state authorities, Church representatives and society in Poland.

In this study, the author attempts to provide a landscape of crime in the wake of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. After a general outline of the structure of the public security system in Ukraine and the conditions under which the crime-fighting services operate, the major changes in the crime structure that have taken place since the Russian military invasion of Ukraine are discussed. The article also provides a synthesis of the impact of the conflict on crime rate in Poland.

The system of reception and support of war refugees from Ukraine – a criminological and victimological perspective

The article is an attempt to assess the support system for victims of war in Ukraine from the point of view of the safety of war refugees, mainly women and children. War never affects only the country that is the object of military attack. Barbaric aggression always carries some negative consequences, for neighboring countries (I omit those of the aggressor). The war in Ukraine is one of the most difficult experiences of our society after World War II. First of all, because there is regular fighting across our border, but also because Poland is a frontline country, with all unavoidable consequences (migrations to Poland, creation of a military support zone for the fighting Ukraine, risk of accidental or intentional losses, intensive activities of intelligence services, etc.). War leads to a threat to the livelihood of large masses of people, and this means that individuals become vulnerable to various forms of dependency, enslavement and exploitation. There is historical, theoretical and empirical evidence for this. The article is an account of research conducted in the spring of 2022 among people involved in the functioning of the reception and support system for victims of the war in Ukraine, near the Polish-Ukrainian border. It is clear from the research that this system (built spontaneously, out of a reflex of the heart by the society) was very efficient in meeting the basic needs of women and children, but as a result of the indolence of the state, a somewhat forgotten area became the issue of eliminating the risk of criminal victimization of these people. The research also resulted in a list of gaps and weaknesses in the system of reception and support of war victims, which could have led to such negative consequences. Let’s hope they didn’t (we don’t yet know detailed data on this), but the risk was significant.