CMIR Seminar Series | How cross-cultural assistants support Ukrainian refugee children in Poland

Following Russia's 2022 invasion, about 350,000 Ukrainian school-aged children entered Polish schools, facing language barriers and war trauma.

We study the role of cross-cultural assistants (CCAs), school staff who are often refugees themselves, in these pupils' academic and social integration. We focus on eighth-graders (mostly 14-year-olds) taking the high-stakes national exam.

Our mixed-methods design combines school-level administrative data on exam results, foreign enrolment, and CCA allocation with surveys of pupils, teachers, and CCAs in 11 schools across Poland's largest cities, as well as interviews with CCAs. CCAs are placed in schools with greater need, but their presence shows no clear association with exam scores.

Most Ukrainian pupils feel good at school, yet only a fifth to a third speak Polish with peers, and those from Russian-speaking homes are notably less integrated.