Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland experienced a historic influx of refugees, thousands of whom were children. About 350,000 Ukrainian school-aged children entered Polish schools; their integration has been challenging, due to the traumatic transition, uncertainty regarding the future of Ukraine, and the fact that while Polish and Ukrainian are related, they remain distinct Slavic languages.
The research project ‘An evaluation of integration policies for Ukrainian refugee children in Poland’—financed by the EUI Widening Europe Programme— brought together scholars from the EUI Department of Economics, the EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences, and the Faculty of Education at the University of Warsaw to study this large-scale influx. A key strength of this project is its academic interdisciplinary composition: economists, pedagogues, and sociologists worked together, which is essential for research that aims not only to understand complex social phenomena but also to translate findings into actionable educational policy and changes in educational practices.
The project focused on how the academic and social integration of refugee children is affected by support teachers — called “cross-cultural assistants” (CCAs) — who are, in large part, refugees from Ukraine themselves. To better understand the project’s aims, challenges, and key outcomes, we spoke with two of the academics who conducted the research: recent EUI economics alumna Marta Korczak and Associate Professor at the University of Warsaw Urszula Markowska-Manista.
What were the primary challenges Polish schools faced during the integration of Ukrainian pupils, and what were the main objectives of your research project in addressing them?
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine led to an unprecedented influx of refugees into Poland, including hundreds of thousands of children, which posed enormous challenges to the Polish education system. Key difficulties included language barriers, differences between educational systems, insufficient teacher preparedness to work with children affected by war trauma, and overwhelmed schools. Many Ukrainian students exhibited post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, struggled with peer relationships, and lacked motivation to learn because they viewed their stay as temporary. This ultimately resulted in over half of Ukrainian children remaining outside the Polish education system.
The main objective of our project was to evaluate the effectiveness of “cross-cultural assistants” (CCAs) in supporting the educational and social integration of Ukrainian refugee children in Polish schools. Specifically, we aimed to determine the impact of CCAs on learning outcomes, as measured by standardised test scores; examine their influence on Ukrainian children’s social integration and psychological well-being; identify the mechanisms through which CCAs operate; and provide examples of evidence-based recommendations for education policy.
Our research questions focused on how CCAs affect academic performance and social integration; whether these effects vary by student characteristics or school context; the barriers and facilitators CCAs encounter in their work; and how shared cultural backgrounds between CCAs and students shaped the integration process.
What exactly is the role of cross-cultural assistants (CCAs), and how do they support both the education and social integration of Ukrainian children? Additionally, why was the recent policy change in Poland regarding CCAs significant?
CCAs serve as metaphorical “bridges” — linguistic and cultural mediators between children with a migration background —especially Ukrainian pupils— and their parents, teachers, and the local community. Their work goes beyond translation: they diagnose barriers to adaptation, support integration, mediate with families, and help teachers understand cultural challenges.
The 2024 amendment to the Polish Education Law professionalised their role, making CCAs municipal employees with funding from the Aid Fund for Ukrainian students. With this legal change, the Polish government aims for one assistant per 20 Ukrainian students (compared to approximately one per 140 previously).
Your research project relies on a mix of data, surveys, and interviews to evaluate the role of CCAs. In simple terms, how did you conduct this work, and what key themes or challenges emerged from your interviews with the CCAs?
We began with data analysis, obtaining summary statistics for each school of the national exam conducted at the end of eighth grade (for students aged approximately 14). We focused on this standardised examination to ensure a reliable comparison across schools. Since 2022, Ukrainian eighth-graders have been able to choose to write an exam adjusted for non-Polish speakers, with instruction in Ukrainian. This data was complemented by information on the number of students, including foreigners, by school, and the number of CCAs at each school. The aim was to determine to which schools CCAs are allocated and whether their presence is associated with higher exam results for Ukrainian eighth-grade students.
Secondly, to measure the integration and well-being of Ukrainian eighth-graders, and to assess the beliefs of CCAs and Polish teachers regarding their role in this integration, we conducted surveys — administered by research assistants who are students at the University of Warsaw — in 11 schools in the largest Polish cities. During this fieldwork, research assistants also gathered contact information for CCAs who agreed to an interview. Key themes emerging from the interviews included the initial adaptation of Ukrainian students, the transitions between the educational systems in the two countries, their relationships with Polish peers and teachers, and the impact of post-war trauma.
CCAs described their strategies and daily activities to sustain Ukrainian students’ motivation, foster new friendships, and build supportive communities, particularly among Ukrainian peers. For instance, they organise workshops, events, and artistic activities jointly with schools to support Ukrainian students in expressing themselves openly (like students who arrived wearing a Vyshyvanka, a traditional embroidered attire, to an eighth-grade ball). Moreover, they help Ukrainian parents communicate with Polish schools by explaining the education system or providing translation during meetings with Polish teachers.
A major challenge mentioned repeatedly by the CCAs was the instability of their employment: most contracts lasted only one school year, with renewal possible but not guaranteed, and with summer months often left uncovered. This insecurity is particularly paradoxical, as CCAs feel responsible for creating a sense of safety and stability for children while lacking such stability in their own personal and professional lives.
What are the most significant findings of your project? Ultimately, how effective is the CCA model at fostering long-term integration for Ukrainian children in Polish schools?
Our most significant finding is that CCAs are strategically placed in schools with the greatest needs—specifically those with a larger foreign student population and lower pre-war eighth-grade exam results. Interestingly, we found no clear association between exam performance and CCA presence, although data limitations did not allow us to conduct a conclusive causal analysis of the impact of the programme.
Regarding student well-being, while about three-quarters of Ukrainian children feel good at school, only a fifth to a third speak Polish with peers. This reveals a significant gap between daily comfort and genuine integration; it may also explain the larger gap in the Polish language exam (22 points out of 100) than in the math exam (16 points) between the Ukrainian and the Polish students. The most telling divide we uncovered is not between Ukrainian and Polish children, but among Ukrainian students themselves: those from Russian-speaking homes are notably less integrated.
Ultimately, another urgent finding concerns the assistants' own precarious situation. Short contracts and uncertain renewals undermine the very stability they are meant to provide. For the CCA model to successfully foster long-term integration, the role must be professionalised through stable employment, better training, and clearer career pathways.
What are the broader policy takeaways from your project? How can the findings from your work in Poland be applied to other countries facing similar large-scale refugee influxes?
The main policy takeaway is the need to adjust the integration policy to the specific age group of refugee children. CCAs work more frequently with younger children, who face different developmental challenges than older refugees. Eighth-grade students are confronted with the national high-stakes exam, which determines their high school or vocational tracks and, ultimately, their future. While the exam facilitation — such as instructions provided in their native language— has been very helpful for Ukrainian refugees, the gap in exam results between them and their Polish peers remains substantial.
Lastly, governments should maintain a centralised, comprehensive registry of CCA contracts. Because many of these positions were initially financed by international organisations, they were missing from official government registries. Accurate data tracking and centralised registration are essential for evaluating and refining the policy.
The EUI Widening Europe Programme, supported by contributions from the European Union and EUI Contracting States, is designed to strengthen internationalisation, competitiveness, and research quality in targeted Widening countries, including Poland and Ukraine. The financial support from the Widening Programme allowed this project to conduct surveys in the main Polish cities and to organise a workshop at the University of Warsaw in December 2025, where the project team learned about findings from similar studies done by local NGOs and universities.
Marta Korczak defended her thesis at the EUI Department of Economics in June 2026 and will join Utrecht University as a lecturer in August 2026. Her PhD thesis comprises essays in empirical public economics, applied economic theory, and experimental economics, studying the impact of a government reform on regional development, the consequences of the digital revolution on public scrutiny, and the preferences of young PhD economists for academic positions. Marta’s research combines causal inference methods with large administrative datasets, as well as experimental and theoretical approaches to identify the effects of policy interventions on labour markets, demographic outcomes, and health.
Urszula Markowska-Manista is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Warsaw (UW) and Head of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Intercultural Communication and Education at UW. Her research examines the rights “to” and “in” education, participation, and lived experiences of children and youth in culturally diverse, fragile, and migratory contexts, using humanising methodologies. Urszula conducted extensive fieldwork in diverse contexts in Africa, the South Caucasus, and Europe. Her recent projects focus on the educational situation of Ukrainian refugee children and youth in the Polish context.