Preserving youth mental wellbeing in wartime migration crisis: Educators’ reflection

Abstract

The school becomes the very first social institution that migrant children are confronted with in their destination country. Schools are where they spend most of their time outside the home, and there, young migrants encounter the destination country’s culture, societal norms, and values for the first time. Teachers and peers are among the most important agents of socialization in new environments; their attitudes and perceptions can strongly impact migrant children’s school experiences (Popyk 2023). For many years, the majority of migrants (around 82%) were returning Lithuanians, but from 2022, due to the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, a large influx of Ukrainian immigrants has been observed: 7,761 children have arrived in Lithuania since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Thus, local educational systems are facing the daunting task of developing responsive policies and praxis to help incoming students settle and integrate into new environments. This study examined teachers’ educational practices in the context of the schooling of migrant children. To examine teachers’ experiences, a qualitative research methodology was constructed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine teachers in their workplaces. Feeling underprepared to work in culturally diverse classrooms, teachers are willing to develop their intercultural competences and competencies to deal with refugee children suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Without adequate intercultural sensitivity, awareness, and competencies, teachers often merely reproduce discrimination and the othering of migrant children. In this study, teachers shared their perspectives on how to improve their school’s inclusiveness.