(New) Forms of Inclusion and Exclusion in Schools in the Context of Recent Forced Migration from Ukraine: Practices and Learning Processes in Schools
How do recent forced migration movements change school practices and institutional routines? What opportunities for participation in education emerge for students with refugee backgrounds, and what new or existing forms of exclusion arise in the process? What learning and change processes do schools undergo as they respond to forced migration and develop practices that critically address discrimination?
The research project examines practices and interpretive frameworks in schools in the context of recent forced migration movements, as well as the related differential forms of exclusion and opportunities for educational participation among students with refugee backgrounds. It focuses on secondary schools in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt that support the educational trajectories of refugee children and young people outside major metropolitan areas.
Research Approach
First, the project investigates the approaches schools adopt to supporting the educational trajectories of refugee children, as well as the political and administrative frameworks within which they operate. It analyses the (new) forms of inclusion and exclusion associated with these approaches, alongside the drawing and negotiation of national, ethnic, and cultural boundaries.
Second, the project examines processes of learning and change among educational professionals and other school staff. It explores the experiences and insights they have gained, particularly since the refugee movements of 2015–16, in supporting the educational trajectories of children and young people with refugee experiences and in developing school practices that critically address discrimination.
The research questions are investigated through an exploratory, empirical-qualitative research design. In addition to analysing migration policy conditions and the relevant school legislation and regulations, the project conducts semi-structured interviews with school principals, teachers, school social workers, and staff of education authorities. The interviews are analysed using qualitative-reconstructive methods.
Project Lead and Duration
Project Leads:
Prof. Dr. Ellen Kollender, University of Cologne
Prof. Dr. Dorothee Schwendowius, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg
Project Duration: 1 September 2022 – ongoing
Publications
Kollender, Ellen, and Dorothee Schwendowius (2026, forthcoming): New Relations of Inclusion and Exclusion? Educational Institutions in the Context of Forced Migration from Ukraine. In: European Educational Research Journal(EERJ), Special Issue. Expected publication: autumn 2026. Information on the Special Issue.
Kollender, Ellen, and Dorothee Schwendowius (2026): Digitale Grenzüberschreitungen? Praktiken digitaler Mediennutzung und ihre Verhandlung in der Schule im Kontext der Fluchtmigration aus der Ukraine [Digital Boundary Crossings? Digital Media Practices and Their Negotiation in Schools in the Context of Forced Migration from Ukraine]. In: Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung / Discourse. Journal of Childhood and Adolescence Research, 21(3), pp. 347–363. https://doi.org/10.3224/diskurs.v21i3.03.
Kollender, Ellen, and Dorothee Schwendowius (2025, online first, ahead of print publication): Processing Uncertainty. Exclusionary Institutional Timescapes of German Schools in the Context of Refugee Migration from Ukraine. In: European Educational Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041251395555.
Kollender, Ellen, and Dorothee Schwendowius (2025): „Was die Organisation betrifft, ham wir sicherlich vom System her was gelernt“: Neue schulische Routinen und institutionelle Ausschlüsse im Kontext der Fluchtmigration aus der Ukraine[“As Far as the Organisation Is Concerned, We Have Certainly Learned Something from the System”: New School Routines and Institutional Exclusions in the Context of Forced Migration from Ukraine]. In: Zeitschrift für interpretative Schul- und Unterrichtsforschung, 14, pp. 28–43. https://doi.org/10.3224/zisu.v14i1.02.
Kollender, Ellen, and Dorothee Schwendowius (2024): Aktuelle Fluchtmigrationen als Anlass für diskriminierungskritischen schulischen Wandel? Empirische Analysen und Reflexion von Transformationserwartungen[Recent Forced Migration as an Impetus for School Change Critical of Discrimination? Empirical Analyses and Reflections on Expectations of Transformation]. In: Zeitschrift für erziehungswissenschaftliche Migrationsforschung(ZeM), 3(1–2), pp. 74–89. https://doi.org/10.3224/zem.v3i1-2.06.
Kollender, Ellen (2025): Solidarische Praktiken und (neue) natio-ethno-kulturelle Grenzziehungen an Schulen im Kontext gegenwärtiger Fluchtmigrationen aus der Ukraine: Eine Reflexion im Anschluss an Hannah Arendt [Practices of Solidarity and (New) National-Ethnic-Cultural Boundary-Making in Schools in the Context of Contemporary Forced Migration from Ukraine: A Reflection Drawing on Hannah Arendt]. In: Dederich, Markus et al. (eds.): Sorge und Solidarität: Erziehungswissenschaftliche Verhältnisbestimmungen zwischen Inklusion und Exklusion [Care and Solidarity: Educational-Theoretical Perspectives on the Relationship between Inclusion and Exclusion]. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, pp. 101–114. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.30152843.10.