Ukrainian Pupils in Czech Schools and History Lessons – Teaching Materials, Knowledge, Testing and Assessment

Abstract

The study presents the results of a questionnaire survey on the involvement of Ukrainian students (who arrived as a result of the war conflict) in the teaching of history at Czech elementary schools. It is part of a broader research, and this study focuses on the results related to the availability of teaching materials, the knowledge of Ukrainian students, their testing, and evaluation. The results indicate that in the spring of 2023, teachers did not agree on the state of availability of history teaching materials for Ukrainian students. If anything was lacking, it was most commonly worksheets and textbooks. They also often lack assistants for Ukrainian students. An interesting aspect is the effort of Czech teachers to incorporate Ukrainian history into Czech history education. Most respondents cannot assess the historical knowledge of Czech and Ukrainian students. Those who compare them mostly state that the knowledge of Ukrainian students is inferior, citing the different thematic placement of history classes in Ukraine as the main cause. It is positive that Czech teachers generally observe improvements in the history skills of Ukrainian students. They attribute this improvement primarily to the enhancement of their language skills. In the case of testing Ukrainian students in history, teachers most often choose a combination of written and oral exams, usually in the Czech language. Ukrainian students can frequently use an online translator, especially during written tests. Only a minority of Ukrainian students have an assistant available. During the research period (spring 2023), they were mostly tested on a reduced curriculum. Evaluation is usually done using grades, but a common approach is a combined form where the evaluation is supplemented with verbal feedback. Ukrainian students are generally assessed less strictly than Czech students. The results are compared and contextualized with the findings of other research.