From personal interest to systematic research
Oksana Stupak moved to the Czech Republic in March 2022, when she had to leave her homeland because of the war in Ukraine. In Ukraine, she worked as an academic at pedagogical faculties in Kiev and Donbas. After arriving in the Czech Republic, she started working at the Institute of Educational Sciences of the Faculty of Arts of MU, where she worked on the adaptation of Ukrainian children to Czech schools. „As a mother, I was interested in how my children, aged four and eleven, could handle the transition to the Czech educational environment. This personal interest gradually turned into research on supporting Ukrainian pupils,".
The first steps led to personal research in which she approached several schools in Brno and conducted interviews with children, parents and teachers. These efforts led to the larger SYRY project, which revealed the difficulties of adaptation not only for the pupils themselves, but also for the teachers and principals who had to cope with the new situation."We have found that adaptation has to take place on both sides - for the pupils and for the schools," the researcher points out.
Winning a JUNIOR STAR grant: support for inclusion research
The JUNIOR STAR grant was new for Oksana Stupak. "I found out about this grant at the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University. It is a prestigious programme that supports budding scientists in their scientific independence," she explains. In collaboration with her colleagues, she decided to take the opportunity to apply for a project that would focus on the integration of Ukrainian pupils into the Czech education system.
"It was important to find a topic that would be topical and relevant to the entire Czech school system. In the end, we decided on inclusion, which includes not only children from Ukraine, but also the approach of Czech schools to foreigners in general," he adds. The grant provides her with funding for five years of research that combines qualitative and quantitative methods. "The research will include interviews with children and parents, questionnaires from teachers and quasi-experiments that will focus on Czech children's reactions to their Ukrainian classmates," the researcher explains.
Current situation and challenges of Czech education
The research takes place at a time when the conditions for the inclusion of Ukrainian pupils in Czech schools are changing. "Compared to 2022, the situation has changed significantly. For example, financial support for Ukrainian assistants is no longer available and there is a lack of paid tutoring in Czech," says Oksana. "On the other hand, teachers now have more experience with the integration of Ukrainian pupils, so we would like to find out how they use this experience and how the support for schools is changing."
Objectives and outputs of the project
The main aim of the research is to find out how Czech schools approach inclusion and what could improve this process. "The results of our research will include scientific articles and conference presentations. We also plan to publish recommendations and organise seminars for school staff to promote inclusion at all levels,". The research team consists of colleagues from the Faculty of Education, who are providing essential support to the researcher. "This is my first major project and I am very grateful for the expert guidance and support I have had since I started at the Faculty."
Future outlook
Oksana Stupak is at the beginning of a five-year research project that aims to change the view of inclusion in the Czech education system. "I hope that our research will contribute to better integration of all pupils and to creating a more welcoming and stimulating environment for all children learning and growing up in the Czech Republic," she concludes.
Thanks to the JUNIOR STAR grant, she has the opportunity to research key aspects of inclusion in Czech education and contribute to their improvement. Her project is not only a scientific contribution, but also a practical guide for schools on how to effectively integrate foreign pupils into the Czech education system.