Access to education for non-Hungarian speaking refugee children in Hungary

Education for All: Overcoming language barriers refugee children are facing in public education in Hungary

Experts in education and social sciences who are familiar with the situation of Ukrainian children who have fled to Hungary came together at a Terre des hommes roundtable discussion on 27 January to share best practices and discuss the challenges of integrating refugee children into the Hungarian school system.
An important aim of the roundtable was to bring together key actors involved in the education of refugee children, to help gather and organise the background information needed to make decisions that will have a lasting impact on the lives of children. This reflection on this topic will continue on 3 April, this time focusing on h ow can we address the language barriers that refugee children face in public education in Hungary.

Speakers

Orsolya Junkuncz-Joó, Terre des hommes, social worker 

Orsolya's first experience in a teaching role was in Ukrainian public education, where she worked as a history teacher and day care teacher in Ukraine from 2013-2016. Afterwards, she taught in primary and secondary schools in Hungary from 2016 to 2022, gaining a wide range of relevant and relevant experience from all levels of both education systems.  

Since the outbreak of the war, she has contributed her expertise and knowledge to the organisation and delivery of playful learning activities for Ukrainian-speaking children currently living in Budapest, and community experiences for their families, as part of a non-formal education project of the Swiss Children's Fund's Regional Centre for the Emergency Response Programme.

Gatienne Jobit, Terre des hommes, Mobile Emergency Child Protection & Migration Coordinator for the Ukraine Refugee crisis 

Gatienne Jobit is currently the Mobile Emergency Child Protection & Migration Coordinator for the Ukraine Refugee crisis. She is a Child Protection specialist with ten years’ experience in different contexts with a strong focus on emergencies setup and hardship areas. Gatienne has a particular interest on child protection case management, using social work approach to address child protection concerns. 

ELTE Pop-up school  

Dr. Kristina Kocyba, founder and Dr. Herta Márki, project leader

The founder of the project is Dr Kristina Kocyba, who is currently coordinating the project, which is currently being taken over by Dr Herta Márki, and for the time being they are managing the project in cooperation. Both are professors at ELTE BTK. 

Kristina has been working as an associate professor at ELTE since 2018, where the idea for the ELTE PopUp School was born. As the university has classrooms and students with teaching qualifications, she took the initiative to launch the first afternoon school for Ukrainian refugees in March 2022. Not only for the children, but from the very beginning there have also been language classes for mothers. Subjects in Ukrainian are also taught by native Ukrainian teachers, and the project is continuously being developed with the support of various organisations. Currently, the classes are held at the ELTE Trefort Ágoston Practical School, where 3 students from the ELTE PoPUp School are already studying in the Hungarian school system.

Moderator

Rita Benyó, riporter of Szabad Európa

The webinar will be held in English and Hungarian.